CHRISTIAN WHITELEY-MASON has attempted 33 tests with 14 different instructors, after 85 lessons that left him over £10,000 (US$12,467) out of pocket over a staggering 25 years before he finally passed his driving test .

    Christian, 42, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Britain, first took his test in 1992 in the days before the driving theory test was introduced but quickly racked up a succession of fails.

    Even his husband, Darren, thought he’d never pass, joking with him “You’re an accident waiting to happen.”

    He said: “There was this one examiner at the Barnsley test center who I used to pray I didn’t get. She was notoriously tough and she failed me every time.

    “I had 56 lessons with my first instructor and eventually he told me to just give up as I would never pass.”

    And by 2003 after Christian had failed his test a monumental 32 times, he admitted defeat and finally gave up on his dream of driving and decided it wasn’t for him.

    “I’d just had enough, I just thought I’m never going to get it,” said Christian.

    Even when he turned 40 and decided to give it another go, he had a few lessons but didn’t stick with it long and never got as far as taking his test.

    “I just got bored with it,”said Christian. “I couldn’t see the point.” But Christian, who is celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary with Darren, and has increasingly been required to travel for work, is finding it more difficult to get by day-to-day without being able to drive.

    He said: “I had to either get taxis or rely on other people and it was costing me a fortune. So in January that was it, I just decided I was going to go for it.

    “Everyone laughed at me and said I’d never do it, I’d get bored again. But I was absolutely determined I was going to show everyone.”

    Christian joked, “There must be a God because I prayed every night that I wouldn’t get that same examiner who’d kept failing me, and I didn’t.”

    Not only did he pass his first test but he only got marked down for three minor errors.

    “You might say I passed first time this time. It was so hard. There’s a lot more to it now then when I first started.

    “There’s the independent driving tests, the theory tests, the hazard perception test.

    “I’m so proud of myself. It’s changed my life to be honest. I felt like I’d achieved everything I really wanted to achieve, this was the one thing left I had to do.

    “My motto was always been don’t stop believing.”

    (SD-Agencies)