Your nurse gave you very good advice. Your locum didn't.
It is not standard practice to give newly diagnosed type 2s the means to test. However, a lot of us feel self-testing is so important that we buy our own equipment and test regularly. Your nurse sounds like she has her head screwed on. Did you get her name? Because they are not all the same.
Now that you have the means and the training to use your meter and strips, then I suggest you go for it, testing regularly for a few days. Before eating, 1 hour after starting eating, then again at 2 hours. Write your numbers down (lots of apps available), and see how it goes. Note down the foods that result in high (or low) readings. Also do a bit of reading on what are normal, good, high, safe driving, unsafe driving levels...
After a few days you will have built up a picture of how your body reacts to the food you are feeding it.
If you are anything like me, you will find it a fascinating, priceless, education. You may only need to test for a few days, or weeks, or maybe only when driving, but whatever you decide it will be an informed decision.
Oh, one more thing - it may be worth doing a search for any threads to do with driving and the DVLA. It may not be relevant to you at the moment, but I believe knowledge is always useful!
