Before you begin to take driving lessons with Select mini on a public road, you will need to apply for a provisional driving licence, you need to be at least 17 years old, (16 if in receipt of higher rate mobility allowance) although you can apply for your licence up to 3 months before your 17th birthday. You need to fulfil certain requirements, including being able to read a number plate at a distance of 20.5 metres for the older style plates and 20 metres for the newer style. The current provisional licence fee is £50. Application forms are available from the Post Office, the DVLA online form ordering service or you can apply online at www.direct.gov.uk .
When you have your licence you then need to choose a driving instructor, it is unlikely that anyone other than a fully qualified driving instructor will have the necessary skills and experience to teach you to the required standard. A fully qualified instructor will display a green DSA badge in their windscreen, a trainee driving instructor will display a pink badge, and many pink badge holders fail to qualify, so you could be paying for sub standard tuition. Only a DSA Approved Driving Instructor can charge for providing tuition.
When you have chosen your instructor, have a trial driving lessons before committing to a bulk purchase of lessons, assess whether you feel comfortable with them, that you like their teaching method and the tuition car is suitable. Choosing the cheapest driving instructor could be a false economy, if the instruction is poor it will take you much longer to reach test standard, costing you more in the long run. If they have pieces of tape stuck on the car windows and steering wheel, this usually indicates you will be taught manoeuvres using the tape as a guide and not to develop your own judgement, so when it comes to doing manoeuvres in your own car you could struggle, unless you know exactly where to stick the bits of tape, a poor alternative to using your own judgement.
Not all driving instructors operate professionally, if they turn up late, fail to give you the full time you are paying for, change lessons at short notice, spend your time making or answering calls, or anything they should be doing in their own time, then change instructor. A driving school with a large number of instructors is no guarantee that you will get good professional instruction, many of these instructors have to work quite a few hours to pay the high franchise fee before they begin earning for themselves, which could result in them having to work long hours, becoming tired and you not getting the best from them. Many are newly qualified and have yet to gain the experience needed to adapt to the differing needs of pupils.
According to the DSA the average number of hours tuition to pass a test is 45hrs professional tuition combined with 22hrs of private practice. Everyone learns at a different speed, some of the factors that affect learning are, age, confidence, nervousness and concentration. A good driving instructor will assess your ability and arrange lesson content and duration to suit your needs. They are also best suited to advise you as to when you will be ready for your test. The main reason for failing the test is lack of practice. By applying for a test you are implying to the examiner that you have good car control, you know and apply the rules of the road and that you can handle any situation that may arise.
Theory and practical driving tests can be booked by phone, post (forms available at DSA test centres) or online at www.direct.gov.uk/driving
Current test fees are £31 for the theory test and £62 for the practical car driving test. Practical test are sometimes available evenings and Saturdays at higher fees.
For all tests you need to produce both parts of your driving licence, photo and paper counterpart, if not, you will not be allowed to take the driving test and you will lose your fee.
