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Reading New Test Centre

Reading New Test Centre

Jul 22, 2025

Long awaited new test centre opens

You might have spotted Natalie on the BBC news last month, yes she’s not just a great driving instructor she’s a bit of a star as well! The reason Natalie was on TV was the opening of the new driving test centre in Reading. Click the picture to see the news article.

The old test centre closed a while ago, as the landlord wanted to redevelop the site. Since then tests have been happening out of the Holiday Inn, but that wasn’t an ideal solution.

The new centre is Pacific House, in Whitley, it’s outside the town centre which makes it easier to drive on faster roads during the test. This is good, as these are the roads where most accidents occur, so it’s a good experience to start new drivers.

new test centre at Reading

Extra Capacity

It is a new building with space for 12 examiners, but when it opened it only had 5 working with 2 training. When it gets to full capacity it will reduce waiting times for driving tests, which is a great idea. We’d love to see extra driving tests available, as when our learners are ready to take the test they often have very long wait times. It is good to see progress, as we have been promised a reduction of wait times for ages.

new test centre pass
pass driving test
Practical driving test pass

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Want to learn to drive? We have a team of friendly, experienced driving instructors that can guide you through the process of learning. Soon it’ll be you passing your driving test at the new test centre! Get in touch to get started.

Problems Booking Driving Tests

Problems Booking Driving Tests

Apr 28, 2025

Long Wait Times

The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has pledged to reduce the average wait time to book the practical driving test to no more than seven weeks by the end of next summer. This has been prompted by problems that learner drivers are having booking their test. The average current wait time is 22 weeks, with three quarters of centres at the maximum wait time of 24 weeks. The BBC reported about the problems learners around the country are facing with long wait times.

Why is this happening?

So what has caused this problem? The pandemic caused a need for extra tests for a while, but the number of tests being taken every year has now reached pre-pandemic levels and the backlog shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

The increased demand during this period may have inspired a new industry of bots that block book tests that are then sold on for an increased fee. The DVSA are aware of this happening and are looking at ways of stopping the practice. Ideally learner drivers should book their own test through the DVSAs website when they are ready to take the test.

How can we help?

So what would we recommend? As the wait times are so long it’s a good idea to be well prepared for your test. You don’t want to have to re-book another test! At Always Pass we always recommend a mock test which will get you used to the format of the test, and expose any areas you need to work on. All of our instructors are here to support their learners, so if you need extra practice on one aspect of driving we will help you. Passing first time is always our aim, we want you to be a great, confident and safe driver.

 Get in Touch

Hopefully the DVSA will get the wait times back to where they should be, and this will support our work as driving instructors, so learners won’t have a problem getting the right test slot.

If you’re looking for experienced driving instructors that can guide you through the process get in touch to book with us today.

Book driving test pass with us
Driving Videos

Driving Videos

Dec 5, 2024

Learn to Drive With Us! 

At Always Pass we love helping people to learn to drive. Not everyone will learn in the same way, and our experienced driving instructors will be able to help you however you like to learn something new.

In the course of giving driving lessons we’ve noticed some of the road layouts that you might encounter during your driving test are trickier than others. Natalie felt that these could benefit from a ‘how to’ video with a driving instructor driving and narrating to show you how to tackle them safely. If you’re learning to drive, or you just find a big, complicated roundabout fills you with dread why not take a look at the YouTube channel? It’s got videos to help with roundabouts and D junctions. Watching how Natalie would drive through these will give you some useful insights. New videos will be uploaded when we can, and eventually this channel will become a library of videos about junctions and other road features. Watching will never be as useful as getting actual behind-the-wheel practice, but we think this is a useful perspective that can help learners.

Take a look at the videos here:

driving training videos
Are headlights too bright?

Are headlights too bright?

Nov 7, 2024

Bright Lights

Have you noticed new car headlights are more blue than the lights on older cars? This is because new cars come with high intensity discharge beams, these are more blue-white and brighter. A study has just been started by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to see what impact these new brighter lights are having on drivers. They have started this research as the number of drivers reporting being dazzled by lights has increased recently.

If a bright light dazzles a driver it can cause an accident. Your eyes will take between one and four seconds to recover from a bright light. If you’re travelling at speed your car will have travelled a long way in the time it takes for your eyes to be able to see again.

There is a fine line between being well lit so that you can see and be seen by other road users and being dazzling so that you cause an accident. Car manufacturers have gone towards a blue light as it causes more contrast, so it makes it easier to see objects on the road. Older cars have halogen bulbs, which are a yellower light. It isn’t known if the blue lights are just brighter, or are in some way causing more glare.

Do you find newer lights are too bright? We’ve got an article about checking your headlights, if you’d like more information about how to check and adjust your headlights.

Learning to drive safely is very important. We have experienced driving instructors that will be able to teach you not just to pass your test, but to drive safely for years to come.

Bright headlights
What does that light mean?

What does that light mean?

Oct 31, 2024

Dashboard Warning Lights

Happy Halloween! As I enjoy the lights from the imaginatively carved pumpkins in my neighbours front gardens I remember not all coloured lights are welcome at this time of year!

We’ve all been there, you start your car to go home and you notice a new light on the dashboard. Whilst some might be obvious others could mean anything. Depending on the sort of person you are you might Google it, reach for a manual or ignore it (I do know people that have taken the bulb out or fixed some card over it so they can’t see it any more).

I don’t blame anyone that can’t identify all the waning lights on a modern car, there could be more than 50 of them! Ignoring something won’t ever make it go away though, so it’s a good idea to find out what it’s about.

Check Engine!

There are some things you should be able to identify, one is the engine warning light. This might be the outline of an engine in yellow/orange or just say ‘check engine’. If this light is showing you should get your car checked by a mechanic as soon as possible, even if it seams to be driving normally. If you ignore it you could be doing more damage, and end up with a bigger bill.

Check engine
Dashboard warning lights oil

Oil light.

This one is easy to identify, it looks like an oil can (usually in red). If this shows you should check the oil dipstick, and if it is low top up with the correct engine oil. Driving without enough oil will damage your engine. If it’s not low but this light is on it could indicate a bigger problem, and it’s worth getting it checked out before you break down in the middle of nowhere!

Temperature warning light

This one looks like a thermometer in most cars (again usually in red). If your engine overheats it will break down, so it’s better to pull over somewhere safe. Once the engine has cooled down (you do need to wait a while) check the coolant. You may have just run low, and filling it up could solve the problem. If the light keeps coming on you may have a leak, get it checked by a mechanic.

Dashboard warning lights temperature
Dashboard warning lights brakes

Brakes

This light is usually a red circle with an exclamation in the middle. Obviously if a brake warning light comes on you need to pull over as soon as you can. The car may not be safe to drive.

Airbag warning light

This light looks a bit like a driver with a circle in front to represent the airbag. If your airbags are faulty you need to get them checked out. Don’t think it’ll be fine, I’m a safe driver I don’t need them anyway! Even the safest drivers can have an accident, and you need your airbags to deploy to stop you and your passengers from being seriously injured. Faulty airbags can also cause accidents, as one could deploy when you are just driving safely. This is why there is a warning light for the airbag system. If you see this light it’s time to take your car to a mechanic to get it checked out.

Dashboard warning lights airbag

Learn With Us!

At Always Pass we’ll tech you to drive responsibly, and understand your car. This will make you a great driver in the future! If you’re interested in driving lessons please get in touch.

How do numberplates work?

How do numberplates work?

Aug 14, 2024

First Numberplates

The first number plates were issued in the United Kingdom in 1903, as a result of the Motor Car Act, which came into effect on January 1, 1904. The act also introduced driving licenses and speed limits. The idea for vehicle registration was borrowed from the Netherlands, which was the first country to use national registration plates in 1898.
The first number plate known to have been issued was DY1, which was given to the second Earl Russell’s Napier car in Hastings on November 23, 1903. The early number plates were made up of one letter and one number, and often included an area code to identify a specific location. For example, “A” was used for London and “B” for Lancashire.

Numberplate Format

The format of number plates has changed over time:

1932: A three letter and three number series was introduced

Mid-1950s: Some authorities began reversing the order of letters and numbers

1963–1965: A year suffix was added to all plates

1967: The registration year was changed from January 1 to August 1

Numberplates

Alphabet System

In the UK, number plates on a car were ran the alphabet system. They were annually moved to the next year on the 1st September. This system started in 1983.
Example plate is L123 ABC – The L at the beginning of number plate was related to the year it was 1st registered…
1993 – L 1994 – M 1995 – N 1996 – P 1997 – R 1998 – S 1999 – T
1999 – V 2000 – W 2000 – W 2001 – Y

You might notice there’s no O, Q, U or Z, these weren’t used as they looked too much like other numbers or letters, or were kept for special vehicles.

All Change!

In 2001/2002 it all changed as they were running out of number plate configurations, so they introduced the new system. Twice a year new number plates were bought out, 1st March & 1st September.

From the 1st September 2021, the DVLA decided to start the plates at 51, so September 2001 was an example plate like this BR51 NGG.

 

Years And Reg Plates

   Year           March           September
2002/03       02                    52
2003/04       03                    53
2004/05       04                    54
2005/06       05                    55
2006/07       06                    56
2007/08       07                    57
2008/09       08                    58
2009/10       09                    59
2010/11       10                    60
2011/12       11                    61
2012/13      12                    62
2013/14      13                    63
2014/15      14                    64
2015/16      15                    65
2016/17      16                    66
2017/18      17                    67
2018/19      18                    68
2019/20      19                    69
2020/21      20                   70
2021/22      21                   71
2022/23      22                   72
2023/24      23                   73
2024/25      24                   74

Year

2002/3

2003/4

2004/5

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2008/9

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

March

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

September

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

Year

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

March

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

September

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

Standard car number plates contain 7 letters and numbers divided into two separate blocks.

The first two letters are called an area code, and correlate with a region in the UK where the car was initially registered. For example RD51 SMR is first registered in Reading. It depends on which region you come under, with the area code system. If you live in Leeds for example, you then start your number plates with a Y, for the Yorkshire region…

The two numbers that follow identify the age of the vehicle (so if it was registered in March 2024, it will read ‘24’). The final three letters are selected at random

Numberplates

Learn to Drive

We have the knowledge and skills to teach you to drive, whichever year your first car was registered! Get in touch today if you’d like some driving lessons.