Driving lessons and Covid: 'I've been turned away by 50 instructors'

Zain has been spending an hour a day calling driving instructors to try to book lessons

From stalling on roundabouts to grasping the mysteries of parallel parking, learning to drive can be a stressful experience at the best of times. But coronavirus has made things even worse for many learners in the UK.

Driving tests weren't allowed to go ahead during lockdown, and Covid has led to a long backlog.

Now some learners are being put on waiting lists for driving lessons, as instructors struggle to meet the demand.

Zain Ahmad says he's been turned away by 50 instructors or driving schools in the past month.

"I would spend an hour in the morning just phoning people repeatedly," the 20-year-old tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

"They're either fully booked up, or there's no spaces, they can't do new students until September at the earliest... and a lot of people said they retired because of the pandemic."

Zain, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, found an instructor before Christmas but he later left the profession after being left with no income during lockdown.

"I only need a few more hours [of lessons], just to tidy things up, but it's just a case of getting someone which is the hard bit," says Zain, who's studying medicine at the University of Exeter.

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Zain's got a test booked at the end of June, and doesn't want to reschedule it as he knows test slots are a rare find at the moment, too.

That's why he's spent so much time trying to track down an instructor.

Ella Richardson, 17, called her instructor in Kent as soon as she heard the news that lessons were allowed to restart in England.

But others had got there first so Ella will have to wait until July to have her first lesson since the winter lockdown began.

She's had to fork out an extra £500 to extend her driving insurance, as well as spending £2,000 more on lessons that she was hoping to.

"The whole experience has been quite drawn out and it's taken a lot longer than I previously expected," she says.

Ella can't wait to pass so that she doesn't have to rely on lifts from her parents

Ella's feeling "extra pressure" to pass the test she's got booked in September as she's worried that the backlog of tests could mean she's still learning next year, when she'll also be preparing for A-levels.

"I don't want to be concentrating on preparing for my practical driving test when I've got my exams to be revising for."

Aaron Ellmer is on the receiving end of calls from people like Zain and Ella.

"I've always been busy, but I've never experienced anything like this before," the Milton Keynes-based instructor says.

The 28-year-old says he's turning away two to three learners every day - and won't be able to start taking on people on his waiting list until October.

"The hardest challenge for me really has been learning to say no to people," he adds.

"I don't like saying no, I'm always like: 'Yeah I'll take you on, I'll take you on.' I can't do now I'm fully booked."

'Pupils in tears'

Lynne Barrie, chair of the Approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council, says the "unprecedented" situation has caused a huge amount of "stress and pressure" for instructors.

"What driving instructors are coping with now are pupils in tears because they fail a test and perhaps then they know that they've got to wait so long before they get [another] one, pupils needing tests that can't find any, and then I've had pupils who've booked a test but frankly they are nowhere near ready for it - some of them have booked a test, but they haven't even started driving lessons," Lynne says.

She worries some instructors are working longer hours to try to fit everybody in.

"From a safety point of view, that becomes quite unsafe and high risk," she says.

Lynne says the problem has been made worse by some instructors leaving the profession during the pandemic - including those who have had to take on other jobs during lockdowns, to make ends meet when tests and lessons were not allowed to go ahead.

Driving instructor Aaron, 28, says he's been turning away two or three learners every day

There's been a 13% decline in the number of registered driving instructors in the UK since 2013, according to analysis done by young driver insurance firm, Marmalade. In the year 2020 alone there was a 2.3% decline compared with 2019.

Marmalade is warning that the demand for lessons and shortage of instructors could mean the cost of lessons "booms" in the next few months.

Aaron says he considered charging more "because I know a lot of places in general, in every industry, have taken their prices up to try and make some money back after the amount we've lost".

He's increased his hourly rate by £1 for new starters, but has kept prices the same for existing students.

"They've stuck with me through 10 months of no lessons and have come back to me, so the least I could do show them respect and give the same that they had before."

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