Private Lessons

I had a call from a young lad’s mother the other day requesting a couple of driving lessons before her son took his driving test in a few weeks time. She said he’d had 10 hours lessons with both parents and was ready for his driving test. I shuddered at the thought! 10 hours no way. If they were 2-hourly lessons it was still pushing it with just 20 hours training – and without professional guidance! I declined saying we had no instructors available. I felt they were just trying to cut corners, by-pass a professional driving instructor apart from using us for a couple of hours just for driving test guidance.

She didn’t give up and e-mailed me a second time, so I offered the pupil to my instructors in the area and Graeme came back to me and took the details. After a 1-hour lesson, Graeme explained to the pupil, that he was nowhere near ready for the driving test, offered some advise for further preparation and refused to accompany him on test. He also advised the mother of what was needed. We heard no more.

It is clear to me Mum was looking at her son’s driving with “rose-tinted glasses" and not recognising safety issues. Like many who practise without a driving instructor, there is a distinct lack of highway code discipline, especially regarding use of mirrors, checking the blind spot before moving away and lane discipline (keep to the left). The driving test examiner judges how a test candidate applies the highway code over a set route for 35-40 minutes, so if the trainer doesn't adhere to the highway code when they drive, how can they teach a new driver to pass a driving test? This is why the pass rate for non-driving instructor test candidates is much poorer, a false economy.

It makes more sense to use the skills of a driving instructor who is fully up-to-date with the ever increasing demands of the UK driving test, than risk passing on bad habits just to save a few pounds – and finish up spending more following a failed driving test.