The opening hours for DRM Driver Training over the festive season are;

Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, announced today that drivers are to be released from reams of red tape.

As part of the government wide process to get rid of unnecessary, burdensome and overcomplicated regulation the Department of Transport is;

Scrapping the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015.

Improving the regulation surrounding Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN)  so drivers will no longer have the burden of annual SORN renewal after their initial notification.

Only issuing hard-copies of V5C vehicle registration certificates for fleet operators when needed, with the poential to be rolled out to private motorists.

The Department for Transport will work with the insurance industry  on removing the need for an insurance certificate.

Abolishing the requirement for drivers to prove they have insurance when applying for tax, which has been made possible by new checks of existing databases for insurance under new Continuous Enforcement rules.

Justine Greening said;

“Motorists shouldn’t have to keep numerous bits of paper just to prove they can drive and have bought insurance – we live in a digital age and we need to embrace that.”

” Reducing the number of rules and regulations in our life is absolutely vital to removing barriers to economic growth and increasing individual freedoms.”

The Road Safety Minister, Mike Penning, announced yesterday that learner drivers will be allowed to take lessons on motorways from next year.

They will have to be with a qualified Driving Instructor during a driving lesson when they are on the motorway.

The aim is to cut the number of deaths on the nation’s major roads involving young motorists.

The change is not compulsory as some learners live too far away from a motorway for it to be practical to get there in a driving lesson.

IAM Chief Executive, Simon Best, welcomed the move saying “This change will mean that properly supervised young drivers can learn how to drive on a motorway with somebody beside them.”

DRM currently offer a 2 hour motorway lesson for anyone who has passed their test recently.  You will practice joining, exiting, overtakng and lane discipline during your time with the instructor.

Driving examiners MAY be participating in strike action on Wednesday 30th November 2011.  Driving examiners are public sectors workers.  If members of one of the unions participating in the strike, driving test MAY be cancelled.  Fifteen trade unions have elected to join the public sector workers strike.

The government department responsible for delivering the practical test is the Driving Standards Agency (DSA).  The driving tests are likely to face disruption, but learner drivers taking tests have been advised to turn up.

Below is an article previously posted by the DSA giving advice about strike action.  The best advice DRM can give is unless you  hear from the DSA that the test will not go ahead – you must attend.  If the test does not go ahead the DSA will give a new test date.  Unfortunately the average waiting time for test is not particularly quick; between 4 and 8 weeks.

The public sector strike will disrupt many services; schools, doctors and hospitals, courts, libraries, museums and social care.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dsa-press-20110628a

Road Safety Week 2011 is nearly upon us – 21^st to 27^th November.  Set up in 1997 by the Road Safety charity Brake.  Brake is a road safety charity its motto ‘stopping the carnage caring for the victims”.  Brake founded Road Safety Week as an annual event to heighten awareness of the extent of serious accidents on our roads, and the steps everyone can take to stop these needless deaths and injuries year-round.

There theme for Road Safety Week 2011 is “2young2die”. Many of those affected by road accidents are young – road crashes are the biggest killer of young people – and these casualties send shock waves through families and communities. Yet these casualties are preventable, often for reasons like driving too fast or overtaking dangerously, driving while using a mobile, driving on drink, drugs or while tired, or failing to belt up.

During the Week, Brake will be appealing to young people, drivers of all ages, parents, the wider community, and policy makers to work together and act now to put a stop to this needless loss of young lives on our roads. Appealing to young people to look out for themselves and their friends as drivers and passengers, and speak out against dangerous behaviour. They will be appealing to all drivers to always put safety first and make Brake’s ‘Pledge to Drive Safely’.

To help raise awareness, Brake will be releasing research findings into the views and behaviour of young people on roads, working with families who have been affected by road death and injury to speak out for road safety, and promoting community road safety activities throughout the UK.  They have launched a course to train Road Safety Volunteers.  Our DRM instructor Ian Taggart attended the course in October 2011.  We hope shortly to announce a workshop for young people, learners and newly qualified drivers.  To find out more email us at team@drmdrivertraining.co.uk or call 0141 632 6326.

Please always drive responsibly there is a reason behind the training, skills and knowledge DRM instrutors pass on to pupils.  Keep driving safely and sensibly.

Theory test booking website investigation announced by the OFT

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to start investigating websites that offer government services at inflated prices, such as theory test fees.

The OFT will examine if the websites are deceptively presenting themselves as official government portals, which is considered an unfair commercial practice. If it is decided this is the case the owners of the websites could face fines and be forced to remove the website.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) charge £31 for a Theory test fee and £62 for a driving test fee (weekday, daytime).

Some websites offer driving test booking services and charge extra administrative fees on top of the test fee. The candidate is not always aware that there is an additional fee as it is not clearly stated.

The investigation by the OFT has been prompted by complaints from a number of government departments, including the DSA.

A DSA spokesman said the agency welcomed the investigation: “It’s important that candidates don’t unwittingly pay extra to book a theory test or practical driving test when they can get the same service for free using the official booking page on Directgov.”

The official govenment website is www.direct.gov.uk/drivingtest.

DRM Driver Training provide a test fee booking service for our pupils and charge a small up front fee of £2, for providing this service.

A survey by Which? Car magazine scored SKODA as top ranked in satisfaction rating. The rating of 88.4 % put SKODA ahead of every other car including Lexus and Porche. Also 4 SKODA models made it into the survey’s top 10 products. A large number of DRM instructors teach in Skoda Fabias, both automatic and manual. We have found them extremely reliable.

The Driving Standard Agency, the government department that controls driving tests, has announced plans to take driving tests closer to candidates. The trials will provide practical car tests in selected areas that no longer have a local test centre.

As well as using conventional driving test centres, DSA is looking at whether tests could also be delivered from other venues such as local authority buildings, hotels or leisure centre. Trials are due to take place in 7 locations including Ayrshire. DRM will keep you posted once we know more about the official roll out.

When the practical car test centre in Paisley was damaged by fire the examiners did relocate to a local hotel as a base of operation. They have now moved to another location which is nearer Linwood than Paisley, however again we beleive this is only a temporary base.

TAKE CARE if you are booking a driving test online.  A number of websites offer this service and present themselves in a very professional way but charge substantially over the DSA fees.  We have had calls of concern from people checking what the fee should be only to be dismayed that they have duped into paying up to  £20 over the actual test fee.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is the government department who control and set the standard for the theory and driving test for all vehicles. They are the testing body and all test are booked with them.  The current fee for a  Car Theory Test is £31 and for a standard weekday car Practical Test is £62 (at time of publication).

To check the current cost of a theory or driving test and to link into the DSA web page for booking tests – use the link provided or call 0300 2001122

DRM do offer a test booking service for pupils. We charge a small £2 booking fee but pupils are informed of this prior to making their payment.

DON’T BE CAUGHT OUT!

Now schools and colleges are out… the summers here – long summer days, nice weather; it is an ideal time to learn to drive.  DRM offers a choice of semi-intensive and intensive courses.

The most popular courses DRM offer are over 6 or 9 weeks, with teaching hours personalised to each pupil; 10, 20  or 30 hours.  The number of hours of training a pupil might need can vary- See DRM ‘terms of business’ for more information on ‘speed of learning’ and ‘Driving Test’.

75% of pupils who join DRM have had some driving experience.  At DRM Driver Training we recommend you take assessment drive first; you show the DRM instructor what you are already capable off.  They will identify what you still have to cover and work out a training plan with you, to keep the cost to a minimum.  Book the lessons directly with your instructor or call the centre, who can also book the test for you as well.

DRM instructors will train you for both the Theory and Driving Test.  Using DRM’s exclusive training formula our instructor will help with all parts of the test.  They can provide a training pack with material for the theory test and a DRM DVD. Our unique DVD training system – we use both DVD’s in the pack to introduce pupils to what they will be learning in their next lesson.  This saves on lengthy briefings at the start of the lessons.

To find out more about our courses please call our central booking office o 0800 2798353 or email team@drmdrivertraining.co.uk.