Pulling Up on the Right Manoeuvre: A Driving Instructor’s Guide

Pulling up on the right is one of three reverse manoeuvres on the UK driving test. The examiner asks you to park on the right-hand side of the road, reverse back about two car lengths keeping reasonably close to the kerb, then move off again safely. Because you cross the path of oncoming traffic, it lives or dies on your observations and timing, not your steering.

That is the bit most learners get wrong. They treat it as a parking puzzle when the examiner is really watching how you read the road. Get the looking right and the rest follows. I have sat in the passenger seat for this one countless times, and the pattern is always the same: nervous on the cross-over, fine on the reverse, then a sloppy move-off because they relaxed too early. This guide walks you through how to do it, what the examiner is marking, and the handful of mistakes that turn an easy manoeuvre into a fault.

What is pulling up on the right?

Pulling up on the right is a set-piece manoeuvre where you park on the wrong side of the road, reverse roughly two car lengths, and then rejoin traffic. It was added to the driving test in December 2017 as part of the DVSA’s wider test changes, alongside following a sat nav and the bay-park-and-drive-out option.

The thinking behind it is straightforward. The Highway Code does not recommend parking against the flow of traffic, but real life forces it on you: the only space is on the right, the left is double-yellowed, you live on the right-hand side of a busy street. DVSA wanted the test to reflect driving as it actually happens. Writing on the official DVSA blog in 2017, then Chief Driving Examiner Lesley Young OBE put it simply: the revised manoeuvres “can be carried out more naturally during the test.” So it is not a trick – it is a normal thing competent drivers do, done under examination conditions.

How to pull up on the right on the driving test

Here is the manoeuvre broken into the three phases the examiner sees: crossing over and parking, reversing, and moving off. The DVSA blog sums up what it is testing as “observation, accuracy and control” – keep those three words in your head and you will know where to put your effort.

Phase one: cross over and park

You will be driving along when the examiner says something close to the official wording: “Pull up on the right when it is safe to do so, please.” That “when it is safe” is the key phrase. It is your job to choose the spot, not theirs.

Pick somewhere with a decent gap so you can get the car straight and parallel. Avoid pulling up opposite parked cars on a narrow road, because rejoining becomes a nightmare. Stay clear of junctions, bends and bus stops. Try not to stop tucked behind a parked vehicle either, since it will block your view of oncoming traffic when you come to leave.

Once you have a spot, run your full Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre routine. Interior mirror, right door mirror, then a proper look over your right shoulder for the blind spot. Signal right and position the car over towards the centre of the road as if you were turning into a side road. If MSM discipline still feels shaky, my guide to the mirror, signal, manoeuvre routine drills the order until it is automatic.

Now wait. This is where calm pays off. You are about to cut across oncoming traffic, so give way to anything coming towards you, and recheck your mirrors before you commit because the picture changes fast. When it is genuinely clear, move across at a shallow angle. A steep angle scuffs the kerb and leaves you fighting to get parallel. Bring it in to roughly 20 to 30 cm from the kerb, straighten up, stop, handbrake on, neutral, and cancel the signal.

Phase two: reverse about two car lengths

The examiner will then ask you to reverse back about two car lengths, keeping reasonably close to the kerb. Before the car moves an inch, do a full 360-degree observation. The single most important look is back over your right shoulder, towards the traffic that is now coming up behind you on your side of the road, because that traffic does not expect a car to be facing the wrong way.

Look mainly out of the rear window as you reverse, at a slow walking pace, glancing to your mirrors to judge your distance from the kerb. Small steering corrections only. If anyone approaches – a pedestrian, a cyclist, an oncoming car that needs the space – stop, let them clear, and redo your checks before carrying on. You are never penalised for pausing to stay safe.

How far is two car lengths? Nobody is getting out with a tape measure. As a rough guide a standard car is about 4.8 metres, so two lengths is somewhere near 9 to 10 metres – the length of a couple of parking bays. Most instructors give you a reference point instead, like lining the kerb up with a fixed marker, so you are not eyeballing metres under pressure.

Phase three: move off and rejoin

Once you have reversed far enough and stopped, you have to get back onto your correct side. Full observation again, all the way round. The danger here is oncoming traffic and anything that has crept up behind while you were reversing.

Signal left to show you are pulling back over to your own side. Take a last look over your left shoulder, and when there is a safe gap, drive smoothly across into the flow. The classic late mistake is rushing this because the hard part feels done. It is not done until you are back on the left, straight, and up to a sensible speed.

What is the examiner looking for?

The examiner marks this manoeuvre on the same fault scale as everything else: driving faults (minors), serious faults and dangerous faults. They are watching three things throughout.

• Observation. Effective, well-timed looks – especially over the shoulder before you cross over, before you reverse, and before you move off. Mirror-only checks are the most common way to drop a fault here. The DVSA’s official Ready to Pass guidance for manoeuvres tells learners to “observe all around while manoeuvring and not just rely on mirrors,” and that is exactly what gets marked.
• Accuracy. Getting and staying within a reasonable distance of the kerb, parking parallel, and not mounting or clipping the kerb. Hitting the kerb hard is usually a serious fault.
• Control. Smooth coordination of clutch, brake and steering, at a slow controlled speed, with no kangarooing or rolling away.

A fault on this manoeuvre normally comes from poor observation or weak control of the car. Crossing in front of oncoming traffic without due care is the one that escalates fastest, because it stops being your problem and becomes someone else’s. If you want to see how this sits among the bigger picture of test scoring, I have written up the most common reasons people fail the driving test.

One reassuring detail: if a vehicle pulls up close behind you so you physically cannot reverse, you will not be marked down. The examiner will simply ask you to drive on and set the manoeuvre up again somewhere else later in the test.

How does pulling up on the right compare with the other manoeuvres?

It is one of four manoeuvre types the examiner can choose from, and you will be asked to do one of them during the independent driving section. The others are:

• Forward bay parking – drive into a marked bay and reverse out.
• Reverse bay parking – reverse into a bay and drive out. My reverse bay parking guide covers the reference points for this one.
• Parallel parking – reverse in behind a parked car at the side of the road. There is a full walkthrough in my parallel parking guide.

You will only be asked to do one, so the honest advice is do not gamble on which comes up. Learners who quietly hope to dodge this one are the ones it catches out. Drill all of them until each feels routine.

When would you pull up on the right in real life?

Plenty of times, which is the whole point. The left-hand side is full and there is a clear space on the right. The left has double yellows and the right does not. You are dropping someone at a door on the right of a quiet road. You live on the right-hand side of a street and need to park outside your own house.

DVSA was careful to say it is not pushing drivers to pull up on the right as a habit – the left remains best practice and is still what new drivers are taught first. The manoeuvre exists because you should be able to do it safely when circumstances leave you no better option.

Tips to pass it first time

A few things I drill with every pupil before test day:

• Slow the whole thing down. There is no clock on it. Speed creates faults; calm prevents them.
• Over-do the right-shoulder look. Going onto, and coming off, the right-hand side is where the marks are lost. Make the look obvious.
• Pick your spot early. Do not stop dead at the first gap. Look ahead, plan, and choose space that lets you get parallel.
• Don’t relax on the move-off. Treat rejoining as a fresh hazard, not a victory lap.
• Use a reference point for the two lengths. A fixed marker beats guessing distances under pressure.

Pulling up on the right rewards practice more than talent. Most pupils who panic about it are calm within a few repetitions, because once the observation routine is grooved, the steering is genuinely easy. An intensive course suits that kind of repetition – you cover a manoeuvre, repeat it across one block, and it sticks. If you have had some lessons already and want to consolidate skills like this quickly, our Improver intensive course is built for exactly that, and you can weigh it against the alternatives on our course comparison page. If this manoeuvre is one of only two or three specific gaps you never properly mastered, a shorter targeted refresher may be all you actually need. We will also help you find and secure an early or cancellation test date once you are ready, so the practice you put in does not go stale waiting months for a slot.