Author Archives: Kerry Smith

Practical Driving Tests To Resume On The 22nd April.

The DVSA has announced practical driving tests will resume on the 22nd April, as of yet we are unaware how this will pan out.

In the first lockdown in 2020 driving tests were rebooked for everyone who had their test cancelled due to Covid  first of all which did cause some frustration and some candidates were left waiting for months for a chance to book a new date let alone take the actual test.

Keep an eye on your emails if you have had a test cancelled due to the lockdown so you can get your link to rebook it

As far as we are aware no extension will be given to theory tests so please keep an eye of your dates of passing two years sounds like a long time but as the DVSA suspended tests this may creep up quicker than you thought.

At Britannia-Driving-School we do offer a test booking service, when we can book tests we will be booking for intensive driving courses as a priority

As and when we have any further news regarding the practical driving tests it will be uploaded to our website..

L-TEACHERS DATES OK WITH U-18S

The following story has been in the news recently, what do you think?

At Britannia Driving School we wouldn’t condone this type of behaviour from any of our instructors.

DODGY driving instructors won’t be banned from having relationships with teenagers under tough new laws.

Ministers blocked proposals to the motoring teachers to be included alongside sports coaches, and religious teachers in a list of professions that are deemed “positions of trust” – which bans them from having flings with teens aged 16 and 17.

But driving instructors have been left off the list as Whitehall insiders felt it “ran the risk of criminalising legitimate relationships and undermining consent law.”

Campaigners had hoped to see instructors added to the list, but Whitehall sources said it risked “increasing age of consent to 18 by the back door.”

Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland QC said: “This Government has pledged to crack down on crime and build safer communities.

“We are giving the police and courts the powers they need to keep our streets safe, while providing greater opportunities for offenders to turn their lives around and better contribute to society.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel added: “On becoming Home Secretary, I vowed to back the police to cut crime and make our streets safer.

“This Bill delivers on that promise – equipping the police with the tools they need to stop violent criminals in their tracks, putting the thugs who assault officers behind bars for longer and strengthening the support officers and their families receive.”

Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: “We are delighted that after relentless campaigning, the Government has finally listened to our calls and agreed to close this legal loophole.

New tough laws will be unveiled to Parliament today in the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

Driving Lessons to Resume

Driving lessons are to resume on Monday 12th April.

We at Britannia Driving School are now having the busy task of rebooking all cancelled pupils due to the National Lockdown.

As before the lockdown all students will be asked to wear a facial covering to sanitise  hands and not to take lessons if they have any covid symptoms or have been near anyone who has.

Instructors will be santising their cars inbetween pupils and also wearing a facial covering.

The DVSA hasnt yet releaased a date for practical driving tests to take place but we anticipate this to be a long lengthy progress as lots of tests had to be postponed.due to the covid situation.

Contact one of our advisors to book in a lesson on Livechat, via a booking form or over the phone to get your lessons started!

 

Driving and riding lessons and tests – National lockdown

On 4 January, the government announced a new national lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus.

You can read more about the lockdown measures on GOV.UK

Driving and riding lessons

Driving and riding lessons, including CBT must not take place until the restrictions are lifted. This includes ADI part 2 and 3 tests and standards checks.

Driving and riding tests

All driving and riding tests have been suspended from 5 January until the restrictions are lifted.

We’ll email candidates who are affected by this to let them know we will reschedule their test.

If you have booked a test for any of your pupils you will receive an email to let you know it will be rescheduled to a new time and date. You will need to contact your pupil to let them know.

We’ll then send you an email with the new time and date as soon as possible; please ask your pupils to be patient.

If the new time and date is not suitable for you or your pupil, you can choose a different time and date on GOV.UK. You will need your pupil’s driving licence number to do this. Your pupil does not need to pay again to do this.

Theory tests

All theory tests will be suspended until the restrictions are lifted.

We will email anyone who has booked a test and is affected by this to let them know their theory test is on hold and that they will need to reschedule it by visiting https://www.gov.uk/change-theory-test.

If you booked your pupil’s theory test you will need to log into the booking system and rearrange their test for a new date and time.

Merry Christmas!

From all at Britannia Driving School, we like to wish you a safe and Merry Christmas!

Could you be fined up to £5,000 for one of these christmas driving mistakes?

If you’re driving home for Christmas or going anywhere in the car make sure you’re staying safe, here  some tips to avoid getting in any trouble

In the run-up to Christmas, many drivers might want to get in the festive spirit as they make their way to finish up their Christmas shopping before heading home to visit the family.

Some might want to decorate their vehicle for the occasion, while others will be blaring Wham! or Mariah Carey and sing along at an incredible volume.

But despite the holiday fun, the most important thing is to always be safe in the car.

Driving at Christmas can be exciting, however there are some little-known things that could put your safety at risk and invalidate your insurance.

“Whilst singing along to christmas songs and adding decorations to your car may seem like fun, they could also be a huge distraction and land you a hefty fine or increased car insurance premium.

“Keeping your car safe from crime is also increasingly important during the festive season, as the winter months are notorious for car theft.

“Always keep your vehicle locked and avoid leaving expensive items on display.”

Hereare the top three Christmas driving mistakes to avoid to save you from fines of up to £5,000.

Decorating your car for Christmas

Last month, over 3,240 Brits searched google for ‘car reindeer antlers’ and a staggering 10,320 have been looking for ‘Christmas car decorations’.

Whilst Christmas car decorations may definitely add some festive cheer to your motor, they could also invalidate your insurance policy, as companies may refuse to pay out on claims if you’re involved in an accident.

This is because decorating a car is considered a vehicle modification. Companies invalidate cover because upgrading the aesthetics of a vehicle can make the car more attractive to thieves and criminals. It could also mean your car insurance premiums increase, as the likelihood of you claiming on a policy would have also increased.

Anything from snowflake stickers to tinsel could cause the agreement to be compromised, so it might be worth keeping the festive décor to just your home.

Having a festive sing-along

When the weather gets colder and the twinkling lights are switched on, we love nothing more than a Christmas sing-along, but it seems the car isn’t the best place to belt out a bit of Bublé, as those who sing and dance behind the wheel could be hit with a hefty fine of up to £5,000 if they get caught.

Alongside this, you could also pick up a ‘driving without due care and attention’ or even a ‘dangerous driving’ charge.

The penalties can be severe, with a fine of up to £5,000 and nine points on your licence in the most serious of circumstances.

Driving with a tree on top of your car

It’s not illegal to drive home with your Christmas tree tied to your roof but you could land in trouble with the law if it’s not tied down securely enough.

The Highway Code states motorists must secure their load and ensure heavy and sharp objects are safe.

Your Christmas tree must also be small enough to be transported safely. Large trees should not be carried by small cars or vans, as they could easily fall off and cause an accident, which would invalidate your insurance policy.

Police officers will stop drivers if they deem a load to be too great and can issue fines of £100 for breaking the rules.

To avoid increasing your risk of an accident, or landing a fine from the police, ensure your Christmas tree is properly fitted to your car roof before driving home. If you’re in doubt, ask a professional to help assist you tie the tree down.

Driving Test cancelled due to dirty car.

Leo Sargent, 17, forked out £62 for his driving test but will now need to retake the exam after his examiner allegedly told him his 14-year-old car’s footwell wasn’t clean enough

A teenager who waited months to sit his driving test was left “devastated” after it was cancelled last minute because the examiner thought his car was “too dirty”, his mum has claimed.

Leo Sargent, 17, was ready to start his driving test last Friday in a 14-year-old Ford Fiesta, but was gutted when the examiner looked at his footwell and is said to have halted the test.

Leo’s mum Jane Sargent, from Morningthorpe, Norfolk, said she had gone out in the snow on the same morning of the exam last Friday to ensure the car was spotless.

But the examiner wiped a cloth over the footwell and told them the £62 test wouldn’t go ahead because it was “too dirty”, she said.

Mum-of-three Jane, 55, said: “It was a real kick in the teeth. We were both really miserable.

“They basically expect you to have a brand new car in order to take the test.

“There was a little bit of mud in the footwell by the time we arrived, but we live on a farm, so there’s not much we could do about it.

 

“It’s an old car, so it’s going to have a bit of wear and tear.

“I basically begged the driving examiner to let me clean the car again then and there so that Leo could still take his test – but he said that it was too late.

“He was completely uncaring.

“I think he was really paranoid about Covid and cleanliness, because he wouldn’t even touch the door handle to open the door to show me the footwell.”

She added: “I understand the need to be Covid-safe, but if they’re going to be that particular about it, I think they should provide plastic sheets to cover the seats and the footwells during the test.”

Jane, who is also mum to a 19-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, said that Leo has struggled with not being able to drive himself around during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said: “We live right out in the middle of nowhere, so Leo has found it really hard this year not being able to see his friends, or go and play any sport or go to the gym.

“This has just been an extra kick in the teeth. I really want him to be able to be independent.

“With the lockdowns it has taken him months to be able to make an appointment.”

Driving test figures reveal. Women can’t park and men go too fast.

IT’S official — women can’t park and men go too fast, driving test figures show.

More females fail for struggling to reverse, with accelerating too quickly one of the main reasons for blokes flunking, the stats show.

Last year, there were 936,000 serious or dangerous test errors by women and 694,000 by men.

Just one of these errors is a fail but some L-platers will clock up several in their exam.

The fifth most likely fault for women is reverse parking, with them picking up 43,130 faults for the manoeuvre.

But the same fault is not in men’s top ten.

The third most common slip-up for fellas is not moving off safely, often caused by accelerating too fast, with men netting 38,636 faults in the category.

That is only the seventh top fault for women. Males are also more likely to get a fault for speeding.

The most common failure reason for both was observation at junctions.

It echoes a 2018 survey which found men were more likely to tailgate, undertake, smoke or vape while at the wheel and not wear a seat belt.

The five top fail errors are,

    1. Women and men — observation at junctions
    2. women and men- checking mirrors
    3. Women — poor steering. Men moving off safely
    4. Women — moving off safely. Men — turning right at junctions
    5. Women — reverse parking. Men — traffic lights and signs

Paying to drive on roads like ‘poll tax on wheels

The Treasury is desperately looking for ways to plug a £40billion black hole created by the switch away from petrol and diesel vehicles.

Charging drivers to use roads would be like a “poll tax on wheels”, a leading motoring campaigner warned today.

Drivers could be forced to pay fees for using Britain’s roads under plans reportedly being considered by Chancellor Rishi  Sunak.

The move is being considered to plug a £40billion Treasury black hole caused by the rise in popularity of electric cars.

The switch to greener vehicles is hammering government revenue from fuel duty.

As more motorists buy electrical cars, taxes generated by petrol and diesel sales falls.

Currently motorists pay 57.95p in fuel duty for each litre of petrol and diesel they buy – a figure which has been frozen since March 2011.

This brings in £28bn a year, or 1.3% of national income, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, while VAT on fuel and vehicle excise duty also raises funds for the Treasury.

A ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars could be brought forward by a decade from 2040 to 2030 as part of efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Asked if the Government would be charging people to use the roads, Mr Sunak said: “I wouldn’t comment on future fiscal policy but this week the Prime Minister will be publishing our plan for our ‘green revolution’ as he likes to describe it.”

The UK currently only has one major toll road – the M6 Toll in the West Midlands.

Drivers also face levies when using some tunnels and bridges.

Motoring organisations were braced for an overhaul.

AA President Edmund King said: “The Government can’t afford to lose £40bn from fuel duty and car tax when the electric revolution arrives.

“It is always assumed that road pricing would be the solution but that has been raised every five years since 1964 and is still perceived by most as a ‘poll tax on wheels’.”

He said the country needed an “imaginative solution”, highlighting a 2017 plan where drivers would receive a 3,000-mile free allowance, with any mile over that subject to fees.

RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: “As more electric vehicles come on to our roads, revenue from fuel duty will decline so it’s inevitable a new system will have to be developed.

“While not paying car tax is clearly an incentive to go fully electric at the moment, we will very soon need a system that can levy tax on both conventionally-fuelled and battery electric vehicles fairly.

“If this isn’t addressed, we risk finding ourselves in a situation where petrol and diesel drivers continue to pay all the tax for using the roads, which is unsustainable.

 

“But drivers are firm in their views that any new system must not be used as a way to increase the tax burden on them.”

FairFuelUK Founder Howard Cox said: “Drivers will worry about privacy issues from tracking devices being fitted to cars, which no doubt will resurface if road pricing takes over fuel duty.

“Road pricing will be a costly and meddling system that’s costly to administer.

“It may be revenue neutral, but it isn’t cost neutral.”

He added: “The possibility of road pricing has always proven to be detested – so unpopular that in 2007 almost two million people signed a Downing Street petition against a national road pricing plan.

“If the Government decide on road pricing as the answer, they could face a fierce backlash from the public, small businesses and the haulage industry.”

“Changes to the tax system must support that change while keeping the public finances on a stable footing.”

Friends of the Earth head of science Mike Childs said: “Bringing in a mileage-based charging system for driving would help people to choose greener means for a lot of journeys, especially if some of the money raised were used to slash the cost of public transport and invest in safe cycle routes.

“We’ve seen communities around the world benefit from systems like this, with safer streets, thriving local business, healthier people, cleaner air and lower planet-wrecking emissions.

“Road-user charging would be a game changer here, and would really show that the UK is serious about fighting the climate crisis as we count down to hosting next year’s UN climate talks.”

Green Party co-leader Sian Berry said: “This could be done well or very badly and the Government’s recent record on delivering new initiatives really concerns me.

Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon said: “The Government should be encouraging people to make the switch to low emission vehicles.

“Unless the process is devolved there is a very real threat that all the funds would go to the Treasury.

“Every penny raised must go to cities and regions so they can improve and invest in public transport and alternatives to driving, and help reduce the need to travel too with more public services within easy reach.”