Sophie Pullum – a pupil of Britannia Driving School – passed her driving test on 23rd march 2009 at the Morden Test Centre with Zero minor Faults also known as a clean sheet.

Her driving instructor, Paul Fitzjohn said: “There are very few students that can pass the driving test with no driving faults at all, zero minors, is a perfect drive. The only way any pupil could do it is by practice, practice and practice, until they can do it if woken up in the middle of the night.”

“Whether you agree with the Driving Standards Agency or not, the key to keeping a clean sheet is to give driving examiners what they are looking for-as Sophie did on her driving test. Remember, examiners don’t give you minor mistakes – you give them to yourself.”

Students are allowed up to 15 minor driving faults and still pass the driving test (16 or more results in failure). However, if you commit one serious or dangerous fault you will fail the driving test. If at any time the examiner considers you to be a danger to other road users your test will be stopped.

If you are being taught to drive by someone who is not a driving instructor, or you hold a foreign licence and are serious about passing the driving test at the first attempt with a clean sheet or as few minor faults as possible, get your driving assessed by a current licensed driving instructor to confirm that your driving is at the current DSA standard.

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Driving while suffering from flu increases the risk of a road accident as much as two glasses of whisky, according to a new study.

Road safety experts warned that the effect could be further compounded by many cold remedies, available without prescription which can cause severe drowsiness, and by drinking alcohol.

Department for Transport figures show that there were at least 93 fatal accidents on Britain’s roads in 2007 for which illness or disability was a contributing factor.

Having a headache or suffering from premenstrual tension was also found to impair drivers’ abilities, but not as much as the flu, the study, carried out by the firm PCP in York, on behalf of Lloyds TSB insurance, found.

Experiments by the Australian Academy of Science have shown that drinking two units of alcohol, the equivalent of two glasses of whisky, can impair reaction times by 10%.

The legal drink-drive limit is 80mg per 100 millilitres of blood, although the Department of Health warns that this cannot easily be translated into units of alcohol.

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The number of new cars that are produced within the UK declined by 59% in February, this is a record fall in UK car production as the motor industry is continuing to suffer. The SMMT (society of motor manufacturers) said that the number of cars produced totalled just under 60,000 last month.

Firms in the UK have cut jobs and production as the demand for cars fall due to the recession, car makers have been lobbying for the government to help their finance divisions that provide the loans to buy cars. SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said: “The large fall in February’s vehicle production is a direct result of weak demand”.

The 59% fall was the largest fall in a single month since the SMMT started keeping records which date back to 1970, it also showed February was the fifth straight month of decline.

A women learner driver is believed to have become the first person in Northern Ireland to challenge her driving test result in court and win.

Her instructor, Jim Miskimmin, said the women failed over what lane she should have been in at one stage of the test in Downpatrick.

Mr Miskimmin advised her to take the case to court and the DVLA admitting liability and refunded her test fee.

By this stage the women had already resat her test-and passed.

Mr Miskimmin said he knew of other people who had failed their tests for the same reason.“I know of others and I’ve spoken to others since that and the same thing has happened to them, but they have just let it go”

Simon Bush of Britannia Driving School said: “Circumstances in which the result of a driving test can be challenged are relatively narrow and relate solely to the proper conduct of the test and not to the examiners’ discretion in assessing the standard of the candidates driving. No court can reverse a driving examiners decision to fail a candidate; the most a candidate can hope for is a refund of the driving test fee if they are successful in court.”

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On May 1st, new changes will come into play regarding road tax affecting all drivers. These new changes are aimed it pollution heavy vehicles receiving a sharp increase in road tax, in order to promote more environmental friendly vehicles.

The environmentally friendly plan has sparked outrage when it emerged some drivers would have to pay £245 a year extra – this led to the changes being diluted in last November’s mini budget. Currently, cars registered after March 2001 are split into seven bangs – A to G – depending on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions.

Band A cars, producing less than 100g of CO2 per km pay nothing. But owners in Band G, with more than 225g/km or C02 and registered after March 23rd 2006, pay a staggering £400 per year.

From May 1st the total number of bands will almost double to 13 and take in all cars registered after March 2001.

The number of speed cameras has almost trebled in just six years, according to figures released by the Government.

There was a surge in the use of national safety camera programme between 2001 and 2007, with the total number of sites increasing from 1,672 to 4,737. This together with a rise in speeding fines from £40 to £60 led to revenue increasing from just over £10 million in 2001 to £120 million in 2007.

All the money raised during the national safety camera programme was spent on buying more cameras, leading to accusations that they were a stealth tax on motorist.

The Department for Transport scrapped the programme in 2007 in an attempt to defuse the controversy.
The 38 Camera Partnerships now have to hand the revenue to the Treasury and then apply for a grant from a road safety fund

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Susan Barnard, 55, was branded as the worst teacher in Scotland and has been banned from the roads over a suspected drink-driving accident when she crashed into a parked vehicle just weeks after becoming the first teach in the country to be struck off for incompetence.

Perth Sheriff Court yesterday heard she had “something of a background” over drink-driving offences.
Fiscal depute Lucy Keane told the court: “On a Friday evening at 8.15pm, the accused was seen at a shop. She appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

“She was seen to leave the shop and go to her car, which was parked outside.

“She maneuvered her car and reversed into a parked vehicle, causing a small amount of damage to that vehicle.”

“Police officers spoke to her and it was apparent she was under the influence of alcohol. The breath test procedure was explained to her but she refused.”

Ironically learning to drive takes place in isolation in large metal boxes, but learning to drive is really the ultimate team game.

By that we mean it is an activity whereby, to a large extent, we are dependent on the actions of everyone else on the road; not just our safety – that ought to go without saying – but also for simple efficient progress, without which it becomes a fairly meaningless pursuit. In other words we all have to look out for each other on the roads.

But this team awareness operates on a less obvious and more fundamental level than just trying not to hit the car in front.

Britannia Driving School’s website focuses on several wider aspects of motoring as a team game. To that end we feature articles on Advanced Driving Courses and Eco-Driving.

Britannia is always looking at new ways to teach students so as to illuminate or reduce the terrible effects of road accidents on a national scale…perhaps the biggest team game in the UK.

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Hard pressed drivers are soon to be hard hit with another fuel duty hike over the next few weeks, making an average family around £104 a year worse off. The government will soon take 71p tax from every £1 spent by motorists purchasing fuel.

This hike is set to make the Treasury an extra £3.8 million per day more tax from unleaded petrol then it did 2 years ago, duty on unleaded and diesel will rise by 1.84p to 54.19p a litre next month. That means roughly 71 per cent of the price of petrol will go to the government via fuel duty and VAT.

Fuel duty rose by 2p a litre in late 2007 and again by another 2p last Decemeber, this new rise of 1.84p will increase fuel prices by around 2p a litre after VAT.

A motorist in Germany was arrested for drunk driving after he stopped at red traffic light and fell asleep. The 19-year old was arrested after police were called to try and wake him up and smelt alcohol on his breath. Other motorists had failed to stir him by blowing their horns as he blocked a main road at 10 o’clock in the morning. He was taken to a police station, to sober up and has now been slapped with a driving ban.

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