Driving Lessons for Thetford and Surrounding Areas

Driving Lesson Overview

Lessons include all of the types of driving that your driving test does - for example, town centre driving, rural driving and dual carriage-way driving. Lessons use roads in and around Bury St Edmunds - just as the driving test does.

Theory

Rather than "wasting" a proportion of each lesson sitting by the side of the road learning theory, I point out theory and hazard perception issues as relevant during a lesson and advise students what learning materials to buy so that they can study at home.* This reduces the number of lessons needed as more time is spent on real driving.

* Note, however, that when a new subject is introduced, a small briefing may be required but I try to keep this as short as possible. Likewise, a few minutes of each lesson do have to be spent setting objectives (to comply with DVSA guidelines) but, again, I try to keep this as short as possible.

Before your driving test, I will spend some time rehearsing the 21 "Show Me, Tell Me" questions that must be learnt.

Flexible Driving Lessons

Lessons are a minimum of 1 hour but can be longer if required.

Note: As the driving test entails driving in and around Bury St Edmunds, I usually recommend that students who need picking up from Thetford or an outlying village book a longer driving lesson to allow sufficient time for driving on the type of roads that will be required in the driving test.

I am happy to pick-up and drop-off students from any location in and around Thetford - town centre, their own home or the home of a friend.

I offer driving lessons at a time to suit the student and, in addition to standard office hours, work evenings and Saturdays if required.

My Car

I use a modern, well-maintained, immaculate Ford Fiesta 1.5 tdci. The car is a manual, dual-controlled, medium-sized car.

Advantages of the Ford Fiesta:

Light, sensitive, responsive car that makes manoeuvres easy and so reduces the number of driving lessons needed.

I am happy to let students drive their own car (manual or automatic) once it is safe to stop using the dual-controls of my own car. Students must have their own insurance if driving their own car.

Pass Plus

Pass Plus is an additional set of instruction (minimum 6 hours) for newly-qualified drivers that helps to develop driving skills and improve their road safety. The six modules of Pass Plus focus on different driving conditions: driving in the dark, driving in bad weather, driving on dual-carriageways, motorway driving, town driving and rural driving.

Students are assessed by me whilst completing the modules and, once they have reached a satisfactory standard in each module, they will be sent a certificate that entitles them to reduced car insurance.

I am an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) for Pass Plus and offer flexible time-scales to suit a student's individual concentration level - for example, some find that 3 hours in the morning and three in the afternoon, with a break in-between, works best.

Intensive and Semi-intensive Courses

I offer a flexible, individually-tailored plan to students who wish to take their test quickly. The key limitation is the student's concentration span - there is no point in wasting money on an 8 hour lesson if a student can only concentrate effectively for 2 hours. It is often better to have daily - or twice-daily - lessons. In all cases, I discuss with the student what is best for THEM.

Motorway Lessons

Drive to Stansted and back - gain real experience of motorway driving and of driving along busier A roads. Lessons will take approximately 3-4 hours depending upon time and traffic.

These lessons will cover joining and leaving motorways, changing lanes and keeping up with the faster traffic on motorways. They will also cover specific motorway signs.

 

A student from Bury St Edmunds who passed first time with driving lessons from TLC Driving School

Another successful student!