news Archives - Always Pass Driving School

Minimum Learning Period

Mar 3, 2026

Consultation

The Department for Transport is always looking for ways to make our roads safer. They have launched a consultation before introducing a minimum learning period for leaner drivers.

What is a Minimum learning period?

This could encompass all or some of the following:

A minimum time period that learners must hold a provisional licence (being a learner driver)
A minimum number of supervised practical driving hours
A logbook to record learning
A structured learning syllabus, which requires learners to have experience in a range of different circumstances

The reason that these measures could make the roads safer is illustrated by the fact that younger drivers have a higher rate of fatal accidents than any other group on the road. This is because they have a lack of experience, so they don’t always react as they should.

If you hold your provisional licence for a short period of time, or had very few lessons you’re not giving yourself time to experience a good range of situations and driving conditions. You may have never driven in heavy rain or at night. The more real-world experience you have the better prepared you’ll be.

A logbook can be a good way to ensure you’re filling gaps in your knowledge. By recording the amount of hours you could also record learning objectives to ensure you’ve had a range of experiences, from driving at night to a fast road or a country lane. This will help you to build more experience before you pass. A structured syllabus would also ensure that every learner covers all driving conditions, but it could be too restrictive for some people.

It’s a difficult balance, as no-one wants to restrict new drivers. Learning to drive is a really important milestone in most people’s lives. They gain independence and a sense of responsibility and freedom. Balance that with the need to make the roads a safer place for everyone. You might think the system has worked well without this why do we need it now? But with more and more cars on the roads it’s important to keep innovating for safety. Progress in safety is bringing fatalities down, which can always be a good thing.

You can read the full consultation and have your say on the gov.uk website but hurry you need to respond by 11 May 2026.

A Rewarding Career

Jan 12, 2026

Love Driving!

Teaching people to drive is such a rewarding career. Driving Instructors get to meet a wide range of people, helping them to gain their independence and take the next step in their life. We’ve taught people that need to learn fast to be able to get to a new job, people that have disabilities that need their independence and drivers that have come from another country. Whatever their circumstances our brilliant team of instructors will teach them everything they need to know. Watching a learner pass first time is a real thrill, it really is a perk of the job.

Great Team

Despite this being a driving instructor could be an isolated job. This is why it’s important we have a team of instructors. We can offer help, support and company to each other. We even have social events – at the Always Pass Christmas do this year our instructors got little rewards to remind them how much they’re valued. In the last year we have helped over 400 people to pass their test, so we deserve a night out to celebrate!

Join Us!

If you’ve always fancied being a driving instructor, and want to make this year the time you change your career we can help. We can teach you to be a driving instructor. Once you have passed if you’re worried about going out on your own why not join our team? You get all of the benefits of working for yourself, with extra benefits – we add:

Unlimited pupil supply
Accountant for end of year submissions and advice throughout the year, (your additional cost, £250 per year)
An owner of 20 years plus experience as an ADI
Support in developing your profession within the vehicle industry
We do all of the advertising for you on social media sites, Google, networking, our own website, recommendations and more.
Roof box (company logo and phone number)
Unlimited personalised stationary – business cards, pens, progress book & more
No contract tie in, just 4 week notice to end your franchise.
Support and advice when you need us, call or text 7am – 10pm daily
Work the areas and hours you want.
Teach manual or automatic lessons
Mock test instructor supplied when you need it.
You get Natalie (Owner), to sit in your car once a month during a lesson for help & support when needed
Members of the FSB for peace of mind.
Two branded t-shirts every year, and a puffer jacket every 2 years.
What’s app groups for chats & enquiries
Two social events a year paid for by Always Pass
CPD training once a year, plus joining BDI local association for more CPD

We add the camaraderie and support of being in a team. It’s the perfect balance. We’re looking forward to another great year with a lot more test passes. Please get in touch if you’d like to be part of it, as an instructor or a learner, we’d love to hear from you!

New manoeuvres! The military will help to bring test wait times down

Nov 13, 2025

Military Mobilised to Help Learners

Driving test wait times have been very high since the covid lockdowns of 2020, They have been coming down, but the average wait time was 21.8 weeks at the end of June this year, which is still too long. Yesterday the government announced that they are taking drastic steps to reduce the wait time whilst still keeping the test as rigorous as it needs to be to make sure the roads are safe. Read the press release here.

Military Examiners

Military driving examiners that would usually be testing service personnel to drive everything from a car to an armoured carrier, are going to be testing learners for one day a week. This won’t have a negative impact on the Ministry of Defence and should deliver 6,500 more tests to learners to tackle the backlog. These will be based at driving test centres near to their MoD base or home location.

Alongside this boost in available tests the government has also bought in new rules to ensure unfair booking practices end and the wait times aren’t kept artificially high.

New Rules

These new rules are:

Learner drivers will only be able to make up to 2 changes to the driving test in total – including moves, swaps and location changes – before it must be cancelled and rebooked.
learner drivers will be restricted to a limited number of test centres, which are located close to the original booking.
only learner drivers will be able to book their own test and not instructors on their behalf.

Limiting who can book tests will stop reselling at inflated prices, not only stopping an artificially high wait time being created, but also ensuring learners only pay the test fee (£62 on weekdays and £75 on weekends, evenings and bank holidays). This should stop resellers block booking and creating a problem.

We’d love to see more driving test slots – it’s great to see our learners pass their test.

If you’re ready to learn to drive we’d love to teach you!

Independent Driving

Oct 16, 2025

Safe Driving For Life

Driving independently and using a sat nav are a part of the practical driving test. These are useful skills that you will use a lot once you have passed your test.

Human vs Sat Nav

When you’re learning to drive it’s very easy to rely on your instructor giving you directions. You may respond in the same way to a sav nav, but it’s important to realise the difference.

Your instructor will not only have a good knowledge of the road layout but is physically in the car, and will be checking road signs and other road users before deciding which way you should go.

The sav nav will just be calculating the fastest way from A to B. This is obviously very useful, the days of struggling to check a gigantic map whilst pulled over at the side of the road are long gone! You still have to be aware of where you’re going, checking road signs and making judgement calls to make sure that the sav nav hasn’t made a mistake. We’ve all heard the stories of people ending up in a river or going the wrong way up a motorway because they followed their sav nav without using common sense.

Planning ahead when driving is part of independent driving, this means that you are not only aware of your route, but have looked ahead to check for road signs that may be warning of a closed road or one-way system. This will ensure you’re not making late decisions about your route, so you have time to get into the right lane. Making sure you have time to use your mirrors, signal and manoeuvre and make sure you’re correctly positioned the car will make navigating a busy junction much easier and safer.

Learn With Us

Going from a learner when you’re always told which way to go to a new driver with just a sav nav to guide you may feel daunting at first, but with good planning and observational skills you can enjoy the freedom of safe, independent driving.

We’d love to help you to pass your driving test! If you’d like to learn with us please complete the form and we’ll be in touch.

Why do we have a hazard perception test?

Aug 20, 2025

Why is it so tough?

At Always Pass we’re all about empowering young drivers to pass their test and drive safely. When the older drivers passed their driving tests you may feel they had it easy, without the theory and hazard perception tests all they had to concentrate on was the practical test.

Why have we made it harder for people to pass?

There were fewer cars on the roads in the past. The authorities don’t want to stop young people from driving, but things have changed. Way back in 1950 there were 4 million licenced vehicles on the UKs roads (from the Department of Transport). At the beginning of 2025 there were 41.7 million licenced vehicles, so you can see how much busier the roads are now! This increase has bought more challenges for new drivers, so it makes sense to change the tests to reflect this.

Road Safety

Sadly over 1,500 young drivers are killed or seriously injured on UK roads every year, and we’d love to reduce this number. Young people are more likely to take risks. This is because when we go from being children to adults our brains go through a process of remodelling. Our brains are still in this process until we reach our mid-twenties. This can increase risk taking and impulsive behaviour, which is never useful when you’re behind the wheel. It can mean that young people don’t think some behaviours, like speeding, are dangerous.

Experience

Another reason young people are more likely to have an accident on the road is a lack of experience. This means they don’t always identify hazards quickly. They might be concentrating on using the gears or steering instead of spotting a developing hazard. This is why the hazard perception test was introduced in November 2002. Practicing for this test will give you a chance to concentrate on the video clips to help you to predict a hazard, without having to worry about controlling the car. This buildings some experience as well as testing that you can predict a developing hazard.

Don’t be put off driving because of the statistics, or the amount of tests you’ll need to pass. You have the power to change statistics – you have to be the change you want to see. So if you’re a young driver be aware of the pit falls and make sure that you don’t speed, and are always paying attention to the road. We can help you to pass your tests, just take them one step at a time. If you put the effort in you’ll be a safe driver on the road.

We’d love to teach you to drive!

Would you like some lessons? We have experienced, friendly driving instructors to help you. Please complete the form if you’d like to know more or book some lessons.

Reading New Test Centre

Jul 22, 2025

Long awaited new test centre opens

You might have spotted Natalie on the BBC news last month, yes she’s not just a great driving instructor she’s a bit of a star as well! The reason Natalie was on TV was the opening of the new driving test centre in Reading. Click the picture to see the news article.

The old test centre closed a while ago, as the landlord wanted to redevelop the site. Since then tests have been happening out of the Holiday Inn, but that wasn’t an ideal solution.

The new centre is Pacific House, in Whitley, it’s outside the town centre which makes it easier to drive on faster roads during the test. This is good, as these are the roads where most accidents occur, so it’s a good experience to start new drivers.

Extra Capacity

It is a new building with space for 12 examiners, but when it opened it only had 5 working with 2 training. When it gets to full capacity it will reduce waiting times for driving tests, which is a great idea. We’d love to see extra driving tests available, as when our learners are ready to take the test they often have very long wait times. It is good to see progress, as we have been promised a reduction of wait times for ages.

Learn with us!

Want to learn to drive? We have a team of friendly, experienced driving instructors that can guide you through the process of learning. Soon it’ll be you passing your driving test at the new test centre! Get in touch to get started.

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