| Three tries for a Welshman. |
| Written by Dai |
| Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:59 |
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Back in the 80's UK qualified drivers were not exempt from taking the Zambian driving test . This was taken at a designated police station and conducted by the police. The nearest to Chadiza Secondary School was in Petauke, Having taken the test 3 times in Liverpool, I was'nt looking forward to it! The first attempt (or maybe the second ) did'nt get me further than the school compound. One of the back suspension plates on my Fiat 124 (a Livingstone Friday job ) cracked leaving the car unsafe to drive. I managed to get it welded by a German couple who ran the craft department at school but had to wait for a month for the next test session. After queueing up to pay the test fee you then had to hand in your application form and two photos. One of my photos was rejected because there was some writing on the back (it was meant to be blank) so I was'nt allowed to take the test. They refused to refund my fee because the receipt had been issued. A wasted day! The next time I passed the highway code and proceeded to the reversing test. This is done between drums ! One has to reverse between two rows of drums from both directions. Unfortunaley I hit one of the drums so that was the end of my test as they do'nt allow you to progress to the next stage. My tester advised me to take the next test in Chipata. On the next occasion I was allowed to go straight on to the reversing. I could swear that the drums were further apart than the last time as I managed to reverse easily! Chipata has only one set of traffic lights and few crossroads so the road test, which took only 5 minutes, was easy. To my chagrin my mate Ron Telfer, who learnt to drive in Zambia, passed first time! As the title says "three tries for a Welshman", or should it be four? |
