January 11, 2016
New Online ADI Registration

From 14 January 2016, driving instructors will need to give there Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate number when they apply online to renew their ADI registration or start the qualifying process.

The DVSA’s online registration will no longer accept applications or renewals without this information.

The certificate must be no more than 6 months old, provided by DVSA’s contractor, GB Group, and be specifically for DVSA purposes.

The online registration system won’t accept a certificate that has been provided by another contractor or has been produced for another role.

Instructors should apply for the DBS certificate in good time as some police forces take up to 4 months to finish their checks.

DVSA’s registration team will continue to send out reminders 6 months before ADI’s registrations expire. To avoid any delay, please make sure that DVSA has your current postal address.

For more information or advice on the new online ADI Registration contact Britannia’s ADI trainer, Simon on 020 8543 8050.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below.

 

Comments(0)

November 26, 2015
Further Examiner Strikes

Some driving examiners are planning to take strike action at various times from Tuesday 1st December until Friday 4th December 2015.

Some driving examiners who are members of the Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union are planning to take strike action.

PCS has planned action at various times from Tuesday 1st December until Friday 4th December 2015.

DVSA is doing all it can to make sure that tests go ahead as planned. Not all examiners are union members, and many test centres are expected to be operating as normal.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

Comments(0)

November 19, 2015
UPDATE: Driving Examiner Strikes

There is the potential for strike action by some driving examiners on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th November 2015. The DVSA wants all instructors and their pupils to turn up for their driving test despite this.

DVSA is doing all it can to make sure that tests go ahead as planned and recommends that you turn up for your test. You’ll get details of your new appointment within 5 to 10 working days.

You can claim out-of-pocket expenses if your test is cancelled, but you must have turned up for you test to do this. If you don’t turn up for your test, you’ll have to rebook your own test and you won’t be able to claim out of pocket expenses.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

 

Comments(0)

November 18, 2015
Your Reaction Age

A new test has been developed that tests your reaction age. The online game gives you a driving age from 18 to ‘a very, very old person’ based on your ability to perform an emergency stop.

The game was created by London-based start-up Justpark.com, which matches drivers with spare car parking spaces.

It places a player behind a virtual steering wheel as they begin to drive down a road. They are asked to strike a key on their keyboard as quickly as possible to perform an ‘emergency stop’ when a red stop sign appears on the screen. The driving age is then swiftly displayed on the screen.

The results are based on the results of a survey of 2,000 people aged 18 and over who were asked to play the game. The reaction time was plotted against their age. The predicted age is the age that most closely matched the age of people with that reaction time.

The company behind the game found left-handed people had better reactions times than their right-handed peers, and men were very marginally faster on the ‘brakes’ than women. Drivers who get behind the wheel at least once a week reacted more swiftly than less regular motorists, while heavy drivers who consume between 31 and 40 units of alcohol a week had slower reaction times than occasional drinkers. People who reported drinking between one and five coffees or teas a day were more alert during the test than those who avoided caffeine.

You can try out the test here.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

:

Comments(0)

November 12, 2015
Driving Examiners To Strike

Driving test examiners have voted to go on strike in a row over working hours. The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said its members had walkouts by 91% and other forms of industrial action by 96% in a turnout of 64%.

The union represents 1,600 DVSA staff at 360 sites across the UK, including driving examiners and officers who carry out vehicle and traffic safety checks. The row is over new working patterns which the union say will lead to longer shifts.

The union said it will now consider possible dates for industrial action.

Britannia Driving School will advise pupils who may be affected by this as more details are announced.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to us by using the comments link below:

Comments(0)

October 29, 2015
Convicted AA Instructor Picked Children Up From School Gates

It was reported in MailOnline recently that a paedophile driving instructor filmed himself sexually abusing children in the back of his AA car after picking them up from the school gates.

The former AA instructor, Matthew Ottley, lured two children into his vehicle after befriending the at the school gates. He would then drive them to a remote country lane and abuse them, according to the article published last week. Ottley pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual activity with a child and arranging or facilitating child prostitution or pornography at Maidstone Crown Court. He was also charged with two counts relating to filming the episodes over a four-day period last November.

Ottley was released on bail until sentencing next month. According to the CPS, a further three counts of abuse would remain on file after Ottley denied the charges.

According to MailOnline, Ottley’s own driving school (I Drive Safely)’s website boasts of nearly 20 years professional driving experience with ‘a 100% pass rate’ and say they specialised in ‘helping particularly nervous pupils.’

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

Comments(0)

October 7, 2015
Test Waiting Times

The DVSA has apologised for the increase in waiting times for driving tests. Certain areas have seen a substantial increase in waiting times for tests and a number of driving instructors have complained to the DVSA.

The DVSA said that were three reasons for the increase:

The economic recovery – more people are taking driving lessons again

More examiners retiring

There has been a surge in people in their 20s taking tests, after leaving it longer to learn to drive

There were 407,000 car driving test between January and March 2015, a 5.2% increase on the same period last year with demand increasing. The DVSA said that it had forecasted the increase in demand and also knew that there were a number of examiners retiring and began recruitment in October 2014, with further campaigns in March and October this year.

Various options have been considered to deal with the increase in demand such as the involvement of the private sector and examiners taking a photograph of the driver as soon as they have passed, so their licence can be processed quickly.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

 

Comments(0)

September 17, 2015
Britain’s Best Young Driver

Car mad Robbie Robertshaw has been named one of Britain’s best young drivers – three years before he can officially take to the highway.

The 14-year-old proved himself a wiz at the annual Young Driver Challenge, where tests included navigating tight chicanes, an obstacle course and, that most dreaded of all motoring tasks, parallel parking.

He came second in the competition’s 14-16 category despite the fact everyone else was quite a lot taller than him. It was a proud moment for the former go-karter as his love for cars, wheels and motoring dates back more than a decade.

Robbie has dreams of owning his own bus company, which is how he fell into driving in the first place. His dad, 44-year-old railways project manager, said that they were looking for a bus driving experience for his 11th birthday. They couldn’t find one but came across Young Driver so bought him a driving lesson.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

Comments(0)

September 3, 2015
Airlifted To Hospital On First Lesson

A teenager who was about to have her first driving lesson was airlifted to hospital after her instructor’s car was in a crash with a lorry.

The 17-year-old and the instructor, whose car was stationary at the time, were both hospitalised but police said their injuries were not life-threatening.

The accident happened yesterday afternoon on the road that links Cargo to Kingmoor on the northern edge of Carlisle. The teenage was flown to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle by the Great North Air Ambulance’s Pride of Cumbria helicopter. Her driving instructor, from the city-based Danny’s School of Motoring, was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary with suspected neck and chest injuries.

The school’s owner Danny Daniels, 55, said after the accident that he had spoken to the instructor involved and that he was not badly injured. Apparently, they were sitting in the car at the side of the road and the car was station. It was her first driving lesson – she had literally just turned 17 and the lesson was a birthday present. She had just taken off her seat belt as they were just about to swap seats when the collision happened.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

Comments(0)

July 13, 2015
Dangerous driving faults

There were 1,426 dangerous faults in Huddersfield last year from 7,312 tests. Instructors in the area believe that this could be due to the fact that the area has difficult roads with all of the test routes including steep hills.

Instructors in the area see this statistic as a sign of the difficulty of tests in the area and that learners end up as better drivers.

Only three test centres produced worse results than Huddersfield – Luton, Wood Green in London and Darwen in Blackburn.

The kind of mistakes that can land you with a dangerous fault include not observing properly at junctions, unsafe steering and not using your mirrors to change direction – or a combination of these as it is possible to get more than one dangerous fault on the same test.

What are your thoughts on this article? Send your views to Britannia Driving School by using the comments link below:

Comments(0)