Left Reverse, Right Reverse, Bay Parking, and Pulling Up on the Right
Left Reverse and Right Reverse, reversing around a corner into a side road, haven’t been part of the UK practical test for some years now, in the same way turn in the road no longer is. They remain excellent exercises for exactly the reason covered in the last article: slow-speed control and observation working together under pressure. What is on today’s test, in one form or another, is bay parking and pulling up on the right, so this article covers all four, the two that build the foundation and the two your pupils will actually be assessed on.
Every manoeuvre in this series rests on the same foundation, P.O.M. gets the car moving safely, but it’s Control, Accuracy, and Effective Observation working together that actually makes it safe. Reversing manoeuvres put more weight on that last one than most, because you’re travelling in a direction you can only partly see, and the risk to other road users is often greater than it would be driving forward at the same point.
Left Reverse
Drive past the side road on your left and stop two to three car lengths beyond it, close enough to the kerb to reverse from, wheels straight. As you pass the junction, glance in to check for obstructions and note the severity of the bend you’ll be reversing around, potholes and drain covers included.
Before you start reversing, find your own marker, a point on the bottom of the rear screen where the kerb appears to cut in. This is what keeps you in a straight line once you’re committed to the corner. Preparation and effective observation as usual, but the observation sequence for the reverse phase runs from your right shoulder round to your left, finishing looking back through the rear screen, because that’s the direction you’re about to travel in.
Reverse steadily, watching the kerb through the rear screen until it disappears into the side window, at which point your rear wheel should be roughly level with the first curved kerbstone and the steering straight. This is your point of turn. Before steering left, check over your right shoulder again, because the front of the car will swing out to the right as you turn, then continue reversing, adjusting the steering to keep a consistent distance from the kerb. Straighten up as your marker reappears, and stop two to three car lengths down the new road.
Right Reverse
The same idea, mirrored, but with an added layer of risk: positioning on the right-hand side of the road means driving briefly against the flow of traffic, so the effective observation before you get there matters more than the manoeuvre itself. Signal right in good time, check there’s nothing approaching that your positioning would affect, then move across and stop two to three car lengths beyond the junction, ready to reverse around the corner on the right.
The reverse phase mirrors the left reverse, marker on the rear screen, observation running from left shoulder round to right, steering right at the point of turn, watching for the front of the car swinging left into the road you’ve just left. Reverse further back than you would on the left, five to six car lengths, because you’ll need room to steer back over to the correct side of the road afterwards without endangering anyone turning in behind you.
Bay Parking, Forwards and in Reverse
On today’s test, if a parking exercise is asked for, it may well be a bay: either driving in and reversing out, or reversing in and driving out, the examiner’s choice on the day. The core skill is the same either way, accurate use of your own reference points, and continuous observation while the car moves slowly through a space shared with pedestrians who can appear from between parked vehicles with almost no warning.
Driving in is the easier half. Approach centrally in the aisle, and turn in once your own reference point, often a line on the bay or a fixed point on your windscreen pillar, tells you it’s time. Steer to bring the car square within the lines and stop with even space either side. Leaving is the harder half of this version, since you’ll be reversing out blind on both sides until you’re clear, so a full effective observation before you move, and a readiness to stop the instant anything changes, matters more here than almost anywhere else in this article.
Reversing in asks more of you going in, and less coming out. Position so the bay appears at your own marker in the door mirror or rear window, get the car roughly square to the row before you commit to turning, then steer in stages, more lock to begin, easing off as you straighten, checking all round throughout rather than just at the start. Stop centred in the bay. Leaving afterwards is done driving forward, which gives you a full view ahead, though you still need effective observation both ways as you emerge.
Many instructors prefer teaching reverse in, drive out forward as the safer habit to build, since it leaves the more hazardous, low-visibility phase for the moment you have the most control, going in slowly, rather than the moment you have the least, reversing out into a space you can’t fully see. Whichever version comes up on the day, a pupil needs both drilled equally well.
Pulling Up on the Right
Not in the original Part 2 syllabus, but a standard part of today’s practical test and worth just as much attention. Signal right, check your mirrors and blind spot, and pull up parallel to the kerb on the right-hand side of the road, facing the way you were already travelling.
The manoeuvre itself starts when you’re asked to move off again. Rather than simply driving away, you first reverse back in a straight line for about two car lengths. This is more straightforward to observe than either corner reverse, since you’re travelling in a straight line and can use your mirrors more heavily, but it still needs regular direct glances behind, not mirrors alone, and a stop the moment anything changes.
Once you’ve reversed the distance required, the real hazard appears: rejoining traffic from the wrong side of the road. Treat it like an angle start with extra margin. Effective observation has to confirm that nobody approaching will need to slow, brake, or swerve because you’ve pulled out, and that includes traffic you can only pick up by looking rather than assuming the road’s clear because it was a moment ago.
Open Windows, Better Observation
Every one of these manoeuvres benefits from a habit already introduced earlier in this series: winding a window down. Reversing puts you in the position of relying on mirrors and shoulder checks for something you can only partly see, and sound often reaches you before sight does, a cyclist approaching round the bend you’re reversing into, a car backing out of a driveway you haven’t seen yet, pedestrians talking on the other side of a hedge or a row of parked vans. Get into the habit of dropping the window nearest the direction you’re most reliant on, left for left reverse, right for right reverse, either side for bay parking, before you start the manoeuvre, not as an afterthought once something already feels wrong.
Why This Matters for Teaching
All four of these manoeuvres reward the same coaching approach discussed in the last article: take the vehicle’s speed off the pupil using the dual controls, and their attention frees up for the steering and observation that actually matter. This is arguably even more useful here than in turn in the road, because reversing tends to make new drivers anxious about speed in a way that crowds out everything else, and bay parking adds the further complication of pedestrians appearing suddenly from between parked cars. Pause the car at the point of turn to talk through what the observation should be showing right then, rather than narrating over a moving manoeuvre where the pupil’s attention is already stretched.
Next in the series: Emergency Stop, covering ABS, cadence braking, and what to do in the moments immediately afterwards.
Leave a Reply