A driving licence after 22 long years

London: Her first attempt to pass her driving test ended in abject failure. The next 20 didn't go too well either.

Now Suzi Hughes has finally passed after 22 years, 21 practical tests, four theory tests, three test centres and 12 driving instructors. And that's not to mention the £15,000 (Dh55,000) cost of her failed attempts.

Hughes, now 41, who took her first test in her home town of Cambridge in a Volkswagen Polo, blames her first examiner, a woman who was aggressive and critical during the test, for her decades of failure.

"Every time I went to take my test, I just grew so nervous I'd forget how to drive," she said. "I never failed on the same thing it was always my nerves getting to me."

Over the years she took five more tests in Cambridge, two in Herne Bay, Kent, and 13 in Worthing, West Sussex, where she lives with husband Toby, a carpet fitter. Hughes, a human resources consultant, gave herself one last shot at success with her twelfth instructor, Mark Bracey.

She said: "When the examiner looked at me and told me I had passed I just screamed at him. He must have thought I was completely mad.