The yard test comes before the road test, and it is where most driving tests are lost. The manoeuvres themselves are not difficult; the marking is strict and unforgiving about specific errors.
The full yard test — pre-trip inspections and every manoeuvre — must be completed within 20 minutes and 59 seconds of stopwatch time. The clock stops between items and restarts before the next.
What fails you instantly
Some errors end the test on the spot, regardless of how well everything else went:
- Using a vehicle that is not roadworthy or not licensed.
- A mechanical failure of the vehicle.
- Any uncontrolled or dangerous action.
- A collision you could have avoided.
- Failing to complete a manoeuvre within the attempts allowed.
- Letting the vehicle roll forward or backward where the manoeuvre forbids it.
- Failing to give a hand signal correctly when instructed.
- Exceeding the time limit, or exceeding 50 penalty points in the yard.
The incline start
Drive up an incline, stop where indicated, and pull away again without rolling back. One attempt only, and rolling back fails the test outright.
The whole manoeuvre hinges on clutch control — finding the point where the clutch starts to take and the vehicle is held steady before you release the parking brake. Release the brake too early and you roll; too late and you stall.
If the vehicle has one, the order changes: hold the vehicle on the service brake, select neutral, then apply the parking brake. Doing it the other way round leaves a moment with nothing holding the car on the slope.
Alley docking
Reverse into a demarcated bay, then drive out forwards. The sequence matters as much as the result: mirrors, blind spot, signal, select reverse, clutch control, 360-degree observation, release the parking brake, then move.
- Check the opposite blind spot as you begin turning the wheel while reversing — the front of the car swings out.
- No forward movement is allowed while entering the bay.
- Rolling forward or backward at the wrong moment fails the test.
- Crossing the guide lines is not penalised; touching an obstacle is.
- Stationary for more than 5 seconds means a fresh observation before moving again.
Parallel parking
Reverse into a bay alongside the road, then straighten up. Three movements are permitted in total — the reverse in, plus two more to position the vehicle — without leaving the bay.
- Turn the steering wheel immediately before stopping, never while stationary.
- Counter-steer for the straightening movement.
- No signal is needed for movements inside the bay, but the indicator must be on when you leave it.
- Leaving the bay has no movement limit, but every move needs a full 360-degree observation first.
Turn in the road
Also called the three-point turn. Turn the vehicle around inside a 12 m roadway using three movements — forward, reverse, forward — and finish facing the opposite direction on the left-hand side.
- 1Forward: mirrors, right blind spot, signal right, first gear, clutch control, observe, release brake. Steer hard right, then counter-steer left before stopping.
- 2Reverse: mirrors, left blind spot, signal left, reverse gear, observe 360. Steer hard left, counter-steer right before stopping.
- 3Forward: mirrors, right blind spot, signal right, first gear, observe 360, move off steering left, then cancel the signal.
You may not mount a kerb, touch the demarcated lines with any wheel, or finish straddling the centre line.
The habit that carries all of them
Every manoeuvre is built from the same sequence — observe, signal, act, cancel. Counter-steering appears in three of the four, and it must always happen while the vehicle is still moving, never stationary: it saves the tyres and the steering, and it sets the wheels up for the next movement.