Teaching a learner

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Not as far as I know - and I used to be a driving instructor and was at the time the rule was introduced.

The DVLA website doesn't say anything about it, either.

He's been disqualified before and he wants to teach someone else how to drive? Good stuff. She should turn out a great driver then, eh! ;-)

Surely that depends on why he was disqualified? He might have only been waving a placard warning about a speed trap. :-) Mike.

It's quite hard to teach somebody who you are emotionally attached to, I tried!:)

Austin

I fully understand the views, but just want a straight answer guys.

Oh - and it was DD ( yeah I know ) but in mitigation he's young and was only just over. Now matured and seems to have taken the lesson onboard

IMHO it's more difficult to teach someone to drive in a car you're emotionally attached to ;)

I understand that when you're disqualified for > 55 days, you have to return your license. In fact, you have to re-apply for a license at the end of your disqualification. The fee to re-apply following disqualification is £50 (possibly £75 for some DD offenses). Therefore, you need to total the amount of time he has held a license, excluding the period of disqualification. It's not clear whether the 3 years have to be consecutive (ie. unbroken by disqualification) - I'm guessing not.

Hope that helps

D

And having the girlfriend in the car won`t help that...

FORGET IT.

Unless he's a qualified/previous instructor, he's no good at teaching her. He'll teach her all his bad habits. Best to let her take proper lessons but let her drive inbetween, sitting in as a passenger.

Even though I'm a professional driver, I didn't teach the missus because of this.

Tell hiom to forget it.

But he can't drive for shit. Unless he could pass a test tomorrow, he's unsuitable to teach.

Also, teaching somebody you know is just about the most certain way I know to cause major arguments...

Not necessarily. I've only taught one person to drive. A work colleague. I didn't teach him to drive in the way I drove. I taught him to drive as I'd been taught. He passed first time. OTOH I attempted to teach my wife in the same way and gave up in frustration. Sent her to a proper driving instructor. She kept querying why I 'wasn't' teaching her drive the same way as I did myself. :-) Mike.

The message from Conor contains these words:

Frankly, that's bollocks. I taught the wife to drive before I was an instructor - she failed her first test without even getting in the car [1] but passed second time. I also taught a friend's Mum without difficulty. I was taught by a different friend's mum who had also successfully taught her three kids.

When I later became an instructor I happily encouraged learners to go out with mum or dad 'cos almost any time on the road is a chance to learn something. Sure, the person teaching may have to re-read the Highway Code and revert to ways of doing things they don't perhaps use themselves, but in most cases practice practice practice will do the trick.

[1] I'd checked her eyesight and it was fine she'd not long been to the optician. A few months later her eyesight had changed so much she couldn't read the plate! The optician was rather surprised - he reckoned he hadn't seen such a sudden change for years.

And now I suppose she keeps querying you as to why you don't drive the way her instructor taught her? :)

Nah. She's been driving for a few years now, and drives like I do. Straight lining roundabouts and bends etc, providing the road is clear, and it is perfectly safe to do so. When I was teaching her, she couldn't see any reason not to do the same, despite me telling her that that was not the way to pass the test. Even her instructor couldn't cure her of the practise completely. She failed her first test on that very point on a couple of roundabouts when she forgot. Even though there was nothing coming, and it was quite safe to cut them. She was quite annoyed about it, as the examiner was quite happy about her driving, apart from those 2 'mistakes'. Mike.

The message from "Mike G" contains these words:

Most examiners would be quite happy with that if you justified it at the time /and/ showed very good observation so they could be sure you did it for the right reasons in the right situation. Not something most learners are up to doing under test conditions.

My niece was going along the A408 towards that vile junction by M4J4 doing a steady 70 when she checked, signaled, checked again, changed lanes then spotted the examiner looking puzzled. "There's a truck broken down in my lane".

He told me later than he'd looked puzzled because learners don't usually react to something half a mile away. As it happend the truck was in a layby but because of the curve of the road it looked as if it were in lane 1. She'd explained what she was doing and when it turned out not to be needed he told her it was OK and he certainly wouldn't count it against her.

Do you know my wife as well ?

Dave

The message from Dave Stanton contains these words:

The worst thing my wife ever did was drive me home from my vasectomy. As we hurtled down the EP in Telford at 85 or so in her elderly Maestro I asked her through the valium haze whether we could perhaps slow down a bit.

"Oh, I thought you'd like to get home quickly" "I'd rather get home in one piece. Or at least, as many pieces as I started the journey in".

You had Valium for your op?. All I had was the local. Worst part was the antiseptic spray that heated your balls up afterwards !!

Dave