Name: Joel Ellis

Age: 17 Lives: Billericay, Essex Passed: July

“The independent driving is much nicer with sat-nav. It’s a far better representation of the driving I do” JOEL ELLIS

FIRST up was 17-year-old Joel Ellis from Billericay, Essex. Having passed his test just three months ago, Ellis racks up an impressive amount of miles commuting between work, home and college. “I cover roughly 200 miles a week in my 2003 VW Golf,” he told us.

As we drove along the country lanes, Joel was asked to show how he’d clean his windscreen as part of the new ‘show me, tell me’ part of the test. Gladman then asked him to stop in a lay-by, programmed the Citroen C3’s sat-nav and told him to follow the instructions.

The route took us on a mixture of dual carriageways, roundabouts and single-lane roads before returning to the test centre, where Ellis was asked to reverse into a bay. The end result? A fail, unfortunately. “You’re a very safe driver, but there were instances of the vehicle rolling back when you were coming to a stop,” Gladman said.

Joel was more than disappointed. “Definitely not the result I was looking for,” he told us. Yet compared with his test just three months ago, he found the new test far better, saying: “The independent driving is much nicer with the sat-nav and the choice of roads was better. It’s a far better representation of the driving I do.”