A practical test for a contractor?

[Fred Bloggs]

That's all I bloody need. Technical tests at home too.

[blacjac]

And of course since we're all 100% truthful and honest none of us have ever blagged a gig with a well written CV and a good interview........

Pull the other one, it's got gigantic guilded bells attached.

As to the argument of taking up references this has been discussed on many threads on here and we all know just how much use references are these days. I've got 2 recent contracts on my CV where their corporate policy is not to provide references and in one of those cases a manager even discussing a past employee is a disciplinary offence.
A past employer who gives anything other than a glowing reference is inviting legal action so a growing number of companies take the default approach of confirming dates if they will discuss anything at all.
I dislike sitting or setting tests, but in the past it's proven to be a necessary tactic to help weed out those that can talk a good game but have no idea how to play it in practice.

They are not asking a past employer for a reference, they are asking a past customer.
Which is quite common in the business world. Which and Watchdog are always banging on about asking plumbers for references from previous jobs.