- Badge
- ADI, green · not a trainee
- Standards Check
- Grade A
- Hour
- £38
- Test centre
- Sale · M33 7ER
- Telephone
- 0161 962 2184
Two hours, and what’s in them
A lesson, honestly described
Most people book two hours. Not because it sells better — because you spend the first twenty minutes remembering what your hands do, and a one-hour lesson spends half its life on that.
I pick you up from home, work, or college. We recap on the kerb before the engine goes on, so you know what today is for. The new thing gets tried somewhere quiet first, then the same thing in real traffic once it stops feeling new. The last five minutes are yours — what went well, what’s next, written on your card so you’re not relying on memory.
The car is a dual-control Corsa: my brake and clutch are real and I’ve used them, but the aim is a lesson where I don’t. Nothing gets taken over without me saying so out loud first, which is the bit most people are actually worried about.
What I don’t do: guaranteed passes, or a pass-rate percentage. Nobody can guarantee a test and nobody can prove their own pass rate — so instead: DVSA Standards Check, Grade A. That’s 43 or more out of 51, marked by a DVSA examiner sitting in on a real lesson, and you can ask to see it.
- Picked up, and a recap at the kerb what today is for, before the engine goes on
- Getting your hands back the first twenty minutes, every single time
- The new thing, somewhere quiet no audience, no queue building behind you
- The same thing, in real traffic once it’s boring in the quiet street, not before
- The last five minutes are yours what went well, what’s next, written on your card
The green is the five minutes at the end. It is the only part of the lesson that is not driving, and it is the part people remember.
The marking sheet, as a syllabus
What we work through
This is the examiner’s own list, in their own order — the sheet you’ll be marked on. There’s no secret syllabus behind it. We work down it together until the boxes stop worrying you.
Control and the car
Looking and telling
Where you put the car
The two circles on the right of every row are serious and dangerous. They are not counted against the fifteen and there is no tally column for them — one of either ends the test. That is the whole rule, and it is why they are not something to work through.
- Flagged
- 3 of 16
You get fifteen driving faults. Most people don’t need them. A pass is fifteen or fewer, and none of the serious or dangerous kind. Perfect isn’t the bar, and nobody drives perfectly on the day. Safe is the bar. Three are marked as an example — junctions, mirrors and manoeuvres, the three I put the most first-block time into. Tap any of the sixteen to make the sheet yours; what you mark comes down to the enquiry with you.
The driver’s record
How you’re doing, in writing
The record is yours, not mine. It’s filled in at the end of every lesson, one box at a time, so “how am I doing” has a written answer and not a shrug.
Ridgeway Driving Driver’s record · sheet 2 of 4 form RD/DR–2
Driver’s record Learner · L. · demonstration
- Lessons
- 14
- Hours
- 21
- Instructor
- ADI 000000-DEMO
14 of 14 rows
- 1 Introduced
- 2 Under full instruction
- 3 Prompted
- 4 Seldom prompted
- 5 Independent
| Skill | Level 1–5 | Last worked | Init. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cockpit drill & controlsseat, mirrors, belt, the six controls | independent | 6 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Moving off & stoppinglevel, on a hill, at an angle | independent | 5 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Safe positioningnormal driving, lane discipline | seldom prompted | 2 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Mirrorsbefore signal, speed, direction | seldom prompted | 2 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Signalsnecessary, correctly, timed | seldom prompted | 3 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Junctionstodayobservation, turning right | prompted | today | M.R. |
| Roundaboutsapproach, lane, exit | under full instruction | 1 week ago | M.R. |
| Pedestrian crossingszebra, pelican, puffin, toucan | prompted | 1 week ago | M.R. |
| Dual carriagewaysjoining, lanes, leaving | introduced | 2 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Independent drivingsat nav or signs, twenty minutes | introduced | 3 weeks ago | M.R. |
| Manoeuvres — bay parkforward or reverse | under full instruction | 1 week ago | M.R. |
| Manoeuvres — parallel parkbehind a parked car, two lengths | not yet started | — | — |
| Manoeuvres — pull up on the rightreverse two lengths, rejoin | not yet started | — | — |
| Emergency stopprompt, under control | under full instruction | 4 weeks ago | M.R. |
Signed each lesson M.R. · ADI 000000-DEMO
Sheet 2 of 4 continued overleaf
Five levels, from introduced to independent. A box is ticked when you’ve done it, not when I’ve explained it. Test-ready is a row of five ticks.
If you’re not seventeen
Starting at thirty-four is not starting late. It is just starting.
About half the people I teach are adults. Some failed once a decade ago and never went back. Some have driven abroad for years and need the British test. Some have simply been putting it off since a bad first lesson with someone who sighed a lot.
There is no minimum number of lessons. DVSA say so themselves, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise to sell you a block. Adults usually need fewer hours than seventeen-year-olds and more patience with themselves — the hard part isn’t the clutch, it’s the being-watched.
You’ll know it’s working when you stop rehearsing the roundabout in bed the night before.
I’m going to be the worst you’ve ever had.You won’t be, and it isn’t a competition. Nobody is graded against anybody else.
I stalled it four times in front of a bus.So has everyone in the country with a licence. It’s a driving fault, not a character fault.
How many lessons will I need?I won’t know for two hours, and anyone who answers that on the phone is guessing at your money.
Can I just do a refresher, not the whole thing?Yes. Licence holders welcome — motorway hours, city driving, or getting back in after a gap.
The day itself
What actually happens
Sale test centre, 36–38 Poplar Grove — about forty minutes of driving, and we’ll have driven every road around it a dozen times before you go.
the four manoeuvres, by their real names
Prices, and getting started
What it costs, and when I could start you
The prices
£38 an hour. No joining fee, no block you have to buy up front, and the ten-hour deal is a convenience rather than a trap — it never expires and I’ll refund whatever’s left if you move away.
The honest bit about waiting: I’m one person with about thirty hours a week, so there is usually a three to four week wait for a regular weekly slot. Cancellations come up sooner. If someone tells you they can start you tomorrow and they’re any good, ask why.
Ridgeway Driving
Covering Sale, Brooklands, Timperley,
Stretford and Chorlton
0161 962 2184
Tests at Sale, 36–38 Poplar Grove, M33 7ER — the centre we’ll be practising around from your third or fourth lesson onwards.
Ask about a first lesson
Tell me roughly where you’re up to and I’ll tell you honestly what I think you need and when I could start you. If that’s longer than you want to wait, I’ll say so rather than string you along.