Test revamp ‘could increase joy-rides’

7:57pm Thursday 8th May 2008

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GOVERNMENT plans for a revamp of young learner drivers' lessons and tests could end up encouraging more joy-riding, York driving instructors warned today.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced yesterday that learner drivers might face having to take their practical driving test in two parts, with one part including the traditional manoeuvres such as reversing and the other including candidates being asked to follow road signs to a certain destination.

Learners might also have to obtain a test-readiness certificate, showing they had driven in many different road conditions before even being allowed to take the test.

Ms Kelly said: "Too many new drivers are involved in road accidents and are not properly prepared for driving alone. It is time for a new approach to learning to drive. We must make sure that novice drivers are safe drivers when they have passed their test."

But the Government resisted calls to raise the minimum age for holding a driving licence from 17 to 18, and also held back from imposing restrictions on newly-qualified drivers.

Ministers also made it clear there would be no requirement to have purely qualified-instructor training for learners and that candidates could, in theory, sit for the test having been taught solely by their parents or another qualified driver.

There could also be a star-rating system for driving instructors so that learners can make an informed choice based on pass rates and a review of driving instructor training and testing.

York driving instructors were unimpressed by the changes. Paul Wright, of Progress School of Motoring of Wigginton, warned that if the Government was going to make it more expensive and difficult to take the test, more youngsters might be tempted to take a chance and drive without a licence or insurance.

"It's just a money-making exercise," he said.

He also felt that Ministers should have bitten the bullet and made it compulsory for lessons to be given by qualified instructors.

Gordon Potts, who formerly ran the Gordon School of Motoring in Wigginton, said he had taught many teenagers who had been given a course of a dozen or so lessons as a 17th birthday present.

After the money ran out, and before they had been ready to take the test, he had often seen them out on the road, driving without a licence or insurance. If costs rose further, he feared this would become even more commonplace.

The Press has been seeking to discourage joy-riding with its Live Now, Drive Later campaign, which has produced a hard-hitting film to be shown to teenagers in schools across the country.