Hi NLR1, 1. The test is perfectly okay to be laid down whilst still running. This would have no effect on the result of your test. 2. Our HIV self test has a stable read time of 45 minutes (from 15 minutes - 1 hour after your test begins to run). It is often possible for a result to be visible before the 15 minutes so it may have been that the volunteer could not see any indication of a positive test line but could see a very strong control line which led him to assume that the result was negative. Additionally, given that your exposure was over 12 weeks ago, it is very likely that a test line would have been somewhat visible before the control line (since the test runs laterally). However, we will be in touch to ensure that this is not common practice. Thank you. I hope this helps. Becky