BUT! it needn't be.
If you have good clutch control, a good understanding of what is happening with the vehicle when you turn the steering wheel, have good all round observation skills, then this manoeuvre is as simple as bay parking, pulling up alongside a kerb, moving off, or pretty much anything else to do with driving.
It is what it is, and just takes practice to perfect it just like everything else with driving.
Possibly, the majority of drivers currently on the UK roads never had to learn this particular manoeuvre. It was something self taught, as was bay parking once a learner had taken their test. If it was that hard, people wouldn't be doing it today and would have found something easier to do instead.
Ok that may not be the case for everyone, and some may drive around the block to find a big gap to drive into instead, but on the whole, people have overcome their worries about it and possibly do this every day of the week
One of the biggest reason why learners "don't like this" is because of stories they hear from their friends or family.
They then get themselves all worked up prior to ever having tried it out, and then are full of mixed emotions by the time they get to try it.
If you have a good instructor, they will be able to judge your abilities and would not let you try this until they felt confident that you were more than capable of understanding what is required and were capable of achieving it.
Sadly, there is possibly a very large percentage of driving instructors who were also never taught how to do this properly, but now have to teach you how to do it.
Driving instructors have to know how to carry out every manoeuvre perfectly for the Instructors driving test, and although they may be able to do it themselves, teaching someone how to do it is a totally different ball game.
For those of you that use the internet, you'll probably have found that there are endless methods of how to do this and this is a good thing!
Because everyone is individual, and what works for someone, definitely won't work for someone else.
Therefore, the only information I will give on this is, what you are trying to achieve?
And what that is, is literally pulling up alongside a car that is already parked, that has a gap behind it with sufficient space for your car to fit into that gap and you are trying to place your car within that gap without hitting anything, mounting the kerb, or being a long way away from the kerb by the time you have finished.
All different methods to carry this out are dealt with on a person to person basis with my pupils during their lessons.
The biggest tips for effective results are :-
LACK OF SPEED :
UNDERSTANDING WHAT EFFECT YOUR STEERING IS MAKING ON THE CAR :
WHERE YOUR CAR IS AT ALL TIMES IN THE ROAD DURING THE MANOEUVRE :
KNOWING WHAT EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY OTHER VEHICLES ARE DOING
AND CARRYING OUT EFFECTIVE OBSERVATIONS THROUGHOUT.