NICOLA Sturgeon has passed her driving test for the first time of asking – as she proclaims “it’s never too late to do something new”.
The former First Minister shared the news on social media today.
In the snap shared on Instagram Ms Sturgeon is sitting in the driver’s seat holding her test certificate, pictured with her instructor Andy MacFarlane.
She wrote: “So this happened today – at the tender age of 53, I passed my driving test (first time!!).
“I couldn’t have done it without my brilliant instructor, Andy MacFarlane of Caledonian Learner Driver Training.
“It was really important to me, as a 53-year-old former FM, not just to have an excellent teacher but someone I could trust and feel comfortable with – Andy was all of that and more!
“The whole experience has taken me well out of any notion of a comfort zone, but hopefully proves that it’s never too late in life to do something new.”
In June the ex-Nats leader achieved full marks in the multiple choice theory test, scoring 50 out of 50.
And in the hazard perception she scored 56 out of 75, easily surpassing the pass mark of 44.
The exam, which costs £23, is compulsory for all motorists to pass before being allowed a full licence to get behind the wheel.
The Glasgow Southside MSP began learning to drive in March following her resignation as first minister and previously described the move as being “part and parcel of the next stage of life”.
At the time her Friend Ricky Bell said the lessons were a signal Ms Sturgeon was preparing for life after being FM.
Speaking to the BBC’s Nicola Sturgeon Podcast, he said: “I think the big thing was she said she was taking driving lessons.
“You don’t need driving lessons if you are going to be chauffeur driven about as the first minister.”
“She said to me many years ago she didn’t want to sit her driving test in case she failed, because up until that point in her life she had never failed an exam.”
In August this year Ms Sturgeon admitted being driven to the shops in her husband’s car that was untaxed.
She was spotted with her husband Peter Murrell in their black Peugeot, which they failed to renew the duty on before August 1 — triggering an offence under the law.
We told the couple forgot to renew their car tax and were eight days overdue.
After the Scottish Sun flagged the tax was overdue, the couple — at the centre of a fraud probe — said they’d made a “simple mistake”.
The couple who are rarely seen in public together are being probed by cops over fraud allegations and had their home raided by officers in April.
Both were arrested as part of Police Scotland’s probe into SNPfinances and what happened to around £600,000 of donations, but inquiries are ongoing and they were released without charge.