March 17th, 2010
I have recently put up a Facebook page for my driving school. You can find it by clicking on this link… HERE!
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
March 12th, 2010
As from 6th of April, at the start of your driving test the driving examiner will ask you whether you would like to have your driving instructor (or other person bringing you to test) accompany you on the test.
It is a good idea to have thought about this and talked it over with your instructor before you go in and meet the examiner to save too much indecision and embarrassment at a point in time that is nerve racking enough for you!
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
March 11th, 2010
By law only driving instructors that are registered with the Driving Standards Authority are allowed to give driving instruction and receive renumeration for their work. Any paid Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) at all times while they are teaching, must display a current ADI badge in the widscreen of their teaching vehicle.
There are two types of ADI badge. Instuctors that are under training and have not completed all their training are allowed to teach to gain experience using a pink licence. Fully qualified instructors will be displaying a green licence.
You are well within your rights to check that the licence is in date and relates to the instructor that is teaching you, so don’t be worried about asking to take a closer look at the ADI badge.
If your instructor does not have a badge in the window, he is either an “un-official” instructor who has not met the DSA standards and is likely to give inferior instruction, or he is a DSA approved instructor who is ignoring the rules to display his licence – and his attitude might suggest he is not the sort of instructor that can be trusted.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
March 10th, 2010
At the beginning of your test the examiner will ask two of twenty question about the car and very basic maintanace. Even if you get these questions wrong it will only count as a minor fault, and you can not fail the test for getting the questions wrong. So don’t worry if your mind goes blank and you can’t remember the answers they are looking for.
To help you, you can look at my website and see all the questions they could ask you along with the answers they are looking for. You will find them by clicking HERE!
You will also see accomanying pictures so you can locate items under the bonnet of the Micra, which is the car I teach in.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
March 5th, 2010
If you are not sure that your driving instructor is giving his best, or you feel he is not competant in some way, then there is no reason why you should stick with them. It is often not easy to change instructors because you may have struck up a friendship and it would seem “unloyal” to change to another instructor. But driving lessons are not cheap and you owe it to yourself to get the best for your money and get good quality lessons.
So feel free to try another instructor, even if you keep up with the present lessons while you look round. Then you can start to see if your instructor is the best for you or not. I hear many stories of instuctors who have not moved their pupils on and are forever driving them long distances before allowing the pupil to drive, and then driving them back again later – using half the lesson in travel time. There maybe instences, eg in the middle of London, where this practice maybe necessary, but generally you should very quickly be driving to and from your front door.
Sometimes speaking to friends will give you a feel for how other instructors conduct their business, and if you think their instructor sounds better, then give them a try.
It also does not follow that just because you are going with a large school that you will get better quality lessons. In fact quite often the independant instructor is more likely to be a better instructor, especially if they have been in the business for a number of years. For an independant instructor to be successfull, he will have to be good. Where as the large schools have a name, but the instuctor that you get may not live upto that name!
Also with larger schools they do tend to have a large turnover of instructors, so you can not always be sure that the instuctor you start with will see you all the way through to your test.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
March 4th, 2010
Although my driving lessons are not the cheapest, there is a case to be made for “you only get what you pay for”. Even if you found another driving school whos hourly rate is £5 an hour cheaper, you would only need to do one more lesson for every 3 you take with me for your overal cost with the cheaper school to end up costing you more in the long run.
Another point to be aware of is that some “cheaper” lesson prices may only be for 45 or 50 minutes rather than the full hour that I quote for.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
March 3rd, 2010
On the day of the test you will need both halves of your driving licence – the plastic card part and the paper counter part. The counter part is the green A4 sized section your plastic licence was stuck to when it arrived from the DVLA. They will need to see the paper part of your licence to be sure you have no disqualifications that might prevent the test going ahead. Also you will need to produce your theory test certificate. If you also take the invitation letter for the driving test as well, it may be handy just incase there is a problem with the test, and they will then be able to confirm your details.
Taking a driving test is one of the most nerve racking things you will do in life! So try to get a good nights sleep before hand and be sure you can put you hands on the paper work you’ll need to produce for the test. If you suffer from nerves, then it maybe possible for your doctor to subscribe some pills to help you relax yet still be able to drive with. Finding your own concoctions of drugs to help you relax is not acceptable!!!
The other way to help relax is to try to breathe in a regular manor. You should try to breathe out for twice as long as you breath in for. So if you breath in for 2 seconds, then you should be breathing out for 4 seconds. This helps keep you in a relaxed controlled state, as does taking in your surroundings by using your periferal vision. Perifferal vision is where you don’t just look imediately in front of you, but while you are looking forward try seeing things each side of you. This is obviously good practice while your driving anyway, but also helps to keep you relaxed.
If you would like driving lessons in the St Albans and Harpenden area’s, then why not give me a call. My number is 07958 756986, and you’ll find my website at www.kingsdriving .co.uk
March 2nd, 2010
You will find that I am not one of those driving instructors who take or make mobile phone calls during a student’s driving lesson, nor do I text while you practise your maneuvers. This means that you get my undivided attention during your driving lesson, making sure that attention is paid to detail (mirror checks, blind spots etc).
This means that sometimes if you call me, you might not get a response till later on that day, especially if I am having a busy day. So please be patient and leave a message for me on the answer machine.
It’s not worth me risking loosing my licence to teach, as an instructor if I get more than 6 points on my licence I am liable to do.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk
February 21st, 2010
One of my ventures is to produce a podcast for the driving instructor fraternity. This is not aimed at pupils so much as towards other driving instructors. The podcast is produced in an informal style, along with two other instructors who participate to the show.
If you are interested in listening to the podcast, especially if you are a driving instructor, then please visit the driving instructors podcast website at www.dipod.co.uk .
If you are interested in taking driving lessons, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk. Or phone me on 07958 756986
February 20th, 2010
Welcome to the all Kingsdriving blog. In this blog I hope to keep you up to date with the latest considerations you will need to be aware of as you head your way to your driving test and your passing the driving test. As well as that I will be showing you some notes that you will recognise from your lessons with me to help you remember what to look for and do.
If you are interested in taking driving lessons, my website can be found at www.kingsdriving.co.uk. Full details of my services can be found on the website..