Thanks for your interest in free motoring lessons for learner drivers.

What is the “free tuition” learner driving model?

Background to becoming an instructor: there are three parts to becoming a driving instructor. Part 1 is very similar to the regular theory test: multiple choice and the on-screen video game element which will be famililar to all learners.

Part 2 is where the driving instructor in training is examined in their on-the-road skills and judgment – a little like the L-test but more so.

Part 3 is the final stage, involving a lesson of about 50 minutes where a learner is taught by the potential instructor and being examined throughout by an examiner, who will sit in the back seat and observe the lesson in order to establish whether the potential instructor has achieved the required level.

It is necessary to pass Part 3 in order to qualify and be added to the ADI register of approved driving instructors, which is a requirement in order to charge for tuition. Hence the “free” lessons model for potential instructors awaiting the Part 3 test!

The other route is to bond with a franchise operation (usually a large branch organisation) and providing tuition under a temporary training licence pending the Part 3 exam. Trainee instructors may benefit from being paid for this work, but there are downsides of being effectively under the control of the driving school in a somewhat lopsided arrangement in which the trainee instructor will be obliged and required to do what best suits the franchise operation.

So for me, to ensure integrity in the tuition provided, and to maintain control over the type of car and the process of driver training, I decided to go along the “free tuition” route.

This means that I build up the required wide range of experience teaching to prepare for the part 3 exam, while benefiting the pupils as they do not have to pay for lessons. So it is a kind of win-win for both pupil and teacher.

What’s on offer?

Free driving tuition for a limited number of pupils, for a limited period of time. The criteria for acceptance as a pupil is as follows:

• Live in or near to Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, or Tunbridge Wells, Kent
• Agree to be available – if required – to be the designated pupil for an examination lesson, typically a weekday early morning (e.g. Monday 8.30am)
• An interest in motoring and in learning to drive a manual car

What sort of car will I learn in?

My preferred manufacturer is BMW because I believe that they make the best cars, from the driver’s point of view. In terms of absolute manufacturing quality, BMWs are probably not in the same zone as Toyota, Honda and Mazda, but there is something special and unique about the way a BMW is engineered and balanced which makes it a particularly special driving machine.

Our car is a 1-series, rear drive, with a six speed manual gearbox; the last of the real baby beemers before the inevitable introduction of front drive and automatic gearboxes and increased digitalisation and automation of the driving experience.

Our BMW has no driver aids, no park distance control, and no intrusive electronic gadgetry (sat nav aside). The little BMW provides a pure and engaging driving experience, despite its modest power output. My view is that most modern cars have too much “tech” which can often turn into a prop, and may therefore be a hindrance or distraction that can get in the way of the driver feeling that they can be in full and sensible control of the vehicle.

I also believe that most learners are better off learning on a simpler, more old-fashioned machine. New drivers may not benefit from learning on the most modern cars with all the built-in gadgets and technology, because as newly qualified drivers, the high cost of insurance added to routine motor running means that they may not be able to afford such an advanced new car. New drivers will be more likely for financial reasons alone to choose an older less technological car, perhaps up to 10 or more years old, and therefore I feel it is best to learn to drive in a simpler, “old school” way which prepares the new driver to take more responsibility and not rely on distracting dash graphics, radar, cameras and technological bleeps and burps to guide them while they learn as these interruptions can interfere with the process of developing independent skill, judgment, focus and control.

Why be a driving instructor?

In 2016 we decided that rather than pay for the school bus to sixth form for our 17-year-old son, we’d get a little car and I would teach him to drive, as the insurance was about the same as the yearly bus! That was the start of my teaching journey, and I was pleased that no.1 son passed at his second attempt. Fast forward to 2025, and I was even more pleased that no.4 son passed on his first attempt with only one “minor” fault! I really enjoyed teaching my sons to drive and I believe that they are responsible and safe motorists.

A long term project I was working on ended in 2025, so I decided to become a driving instructor. My early background was in the creative industry and later in software development, then more recently in property renovation (an antedote to 25 years of desk work). All of the above are very much younger people’s occupations and arguably not suitable for someone in their fifties. There is a point in life when you just can’t do 80 or 100 hour work weeks or do hours of physical work on a daily basis. Teaching can be a great joy and can provide a lot of job satisfaction. If it wasn’t for all the nonsense involved with being a modern teacher, I’d be more than happy in a classroom somewhere teaching young people to draw or learn the basics of PHP and SQL (although AI seems to have dealt a blow to every part of the creative industry, so it may be of little use these days, learning art or how to code).

Motoring has been a big influence in my life. I grew up in an area of south London which, at the time, had little in the way of public transport. It is a bit of a cliche that everyone in the eighties in south east London was obsessed with cars but motoring was necessary to get around and get on, in the absence of a proper tube network!

I passed the L-test first time in December 1987 and drove around in a 1969 Hillman Avenger which I had bought from a school friend, which was a cut-and-shut machine (two write-offs welded together in the middle – which was still legal then). The “big ends” were on their way out and the car was basically a mobile dustbin in a state of disintegration but the feeling of being mobile made me deleriously happy.

Since that time I have owned more than 20 cars and motorcycles (not all at the same time). I have driven in excess of half a million miles on roads around the UK, Europe and further abroad, and many thousands of miles on tracks (most on the Nurburgring – before it became ruined by Top Gear publicity!) mostly in high performance cars.

In the nineties I was fortunate to take advantage of several sessions of advanced driving tuition from the well respected (and arguably legendary) John Lyon, who later wrote an excellent book about his life mission of furthering skill and enjoyment in motoring.

I do not present myself as any kind of expert. I have an enquiring mind and a long-standing interest in motoring, which I have always enjoyed. I also enjoy teaching others to drive – safely, responsibly and with the attitude that every journey is an opportunity to drive smoother, enhance ones predictive thinking, and really engage with every aspect of motoring, that is interaction with, and understanding, of the car, always with “reading the road” in mind.

I hope that doesn’t sound pretentious, but as with cooking or gardening, every journey is a learning opportunity which can be used to discover and unlock further improvement and learning, which can in itself be an immensely rewarding process.

Everyone can access joy in their motoring, and the more miles I travel the more I realise that any road machine, however modest, when driven sensitively, with engagement and mechanical sympathy and understanding of the use of position and speed, can provide a level of joy and pleasure to the driver. This joy may be incidental to most journeys from A to B, but it can help to enrich an individual’s overall life journey.