Bay Park
Bay Parking
| Turn in the Road | Left Reverse | Bay Parking | Reverse Parking |
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Bay Parking
If you are asked to bay park on your test the only location the examiner is allowed to ask you to do this manoeuvre is at the test centre, this is due to insurance reasons. This manoeuvre will usually be done at the end of the test however since the introduction of independent driving onto the test and subsequently removal of one of the reverse manoeuvres you are less likely to be asked to bay park at the end of the test.
It is however important to be able to complete this manoeuvre safely in case you do get it on test and also it is something that your are likely to do most days whether it be parking up at work or at the supermarket you will need to be able to bay park safely.
Select a Bay
First of all you need to select a bay to park in.
Pull up alongside the bay, so that the bay appears to be in your passenger side window.
Steer Right
Making sure it's safe steer right until you are close to the bays on the right hand side.
As you get close to the bays on the right hand side, keep the car moving and straighten the steering.
Identify you Bay
Looking in your passenger mirror you should be able to see the bay that you want to reverse in.
You need to be able to judge how much steering you'll need. If the bay lines are close to your car you'll need little if any steering at the start.
Select reverse gear and do an all round observation to make sure it is safe to reverse.
Need to steer?
As you reverse into the bay you should see the white line of the bay start to move away from your car, you need to start to steer towards the white line.
This should take you closer to the white line, if you steer too late you'll end up going too far over into the next bay along and have a harder job correcting yourself.
More or less Steering?
As you get further into the bay the white line should look like the image on the left. If the line is close to the car you need to be taking all the steering off, if it is far away from your car you need to keep the steering on.
Straighten Steering
As the white line in your left hand mirror becomes parallel to your car you need to straighten up your steering and reverse back into the bay.
Are you in the Bay
If you know your defiantly in the bay reverse back. At this point you may not be able to see the white lines of the bay due to the position of the mirrors.
If you're not completely convinced that you are in the bay move the car forward (if safe to do so) so that you are able to see the bay you wish to park in. Reverse making any corrects that are necessary.
Completing the Manoeuvre
Make sure that you have reverse far enough into the bay. At the test centre their is a slightly raised kerb at the front of each of the bays once you are over this kerb with your front wheels (you will feel a slight bump) move the car back about a foot and stop. This will ensure that you don't hit the kerb behind you.
When parking elsewhere to guide yourself you should look at lining up your drivers side mirror with the ends of each of the bay on the right hand side they should line up, if they do you are far enough into the bay.
For you test the car needs to be parked within the two white lines it doesn't need to be perfectly in the middle it doesn't need to be completely straight.