Malcolm Smith's Family History Archive

---

Biography of

Malcolm  Archbald  SMITH

[Ref. S.1]

---

Vehicles Documents Biography Index

---

 
Malcolm learned to drive a car quite some time before he was of the legal age. The family lived along an unadopted gravel roaf with woodland each side so the rules of the road did not apply there. When Malcolm was 14, his mother inherited a Hillman Minx car from her father and it was not long before Malcolm was experimenting with it. His brother and sister soon followed suit and they would drive up and down the lane and weave between the trees in the woodland thus gaining experience in handling a car.

As soon as Malcolm was old enough to hold a provisional licence he would take evey opportunity to drive his mother's car on the road under her supervision. He was a brisk but confident confident driver. On one occasion, when Malcolm was nearing 18 and the family were on holiday in Selsey, he forgot that he should be supervised on the road and drove into the village to purchase a record. It wasn't until he was about to drive back that he realised what he had done. It was only a short journey and there were no repurcussions.

Malcolm had taken a few official driving lessons prior to the test so that he wa sfamiliar with proceedure. He applied to take the test as soon as he was eligible. He took it at the Woking test centre and passed first time. The emergency stop was unusual as he had to do that unrequested when a pedestrian stepped out in front of the car and the examiner accepted his reaction for the test.