With the arrival of young Digsby jnr 2, the need has arrived for some extra money in the Digsby household. Mrs Digs will not be going back to work as it wouldn't be beneficial to pay someone to look after the young guns on the wages she earns so the need has arrived to supplement the household income.

I've been training to become a driving instructor for nearly a year now and I'm now in the position where I can apply for my trainee license. This allows you to work for 6 months before taking your final (part 3) test which tests your instructional ability.

This is only going to be a part-time job for me as the Fire Brigade is my main source of income and I'd never leave that job.

So here's where the fiso help comes in....

I'd be interested to know from anyone who has learned to drive in the past few years:

a - What car they learned to drive in? How was it? I'm now in a position where I need to buy myself a car, fit the dual controls, and I'm away.

b - Any bad/good instructional techniques picked up from their instructors?

c - How many lessons did they have before taking a test?

d - How much did a lesson cost per hour? (please say which part of the country this is in)

Any help would be much appreciated as I want to have my business up and running by the end of next month.

And by the way, no, I'm not just doing it for the 17 year old girls.

Learning at the moment Digsby...

a - What car they learned to drive in? How was it? I'm now in a position where I need to buy myself a car, fit the dual controls, and I'm away.

Vauxhall Corsa (diesel). The gearbox went quite recently so for one lesson I had to put the engine off before going into reverse . Otherwise it's been fine. Been doing a bit of practice in a volvo and that's a little more difficult to park, also a little more difficult to stall (a regular occurrence), but otherwise not too different.

b - Any bad/good instructional techniques picked up from their instructors?

Obviously I haven't taken my test, so I can't say exactly what has worked. I wasn't too worried about driving in industrial estates when I started, but pretty scared of driving on roads. But on my second lesson my instructor got me to drive home, which involves a turn across a very busy road. I was shaking after that, but looking back I think it gave me the confidence early on which is important. Besides that, it's just like teaching anything else I suppose: explain things clearly and demonstrate the manoeuvres.

c - How many lessons did they have before taking a test?

10 so far. Looking at about fifteen in all (at a guess)

d - How much did a lesson cost per hour? (please say which part of the country this is in)

£20. suburban Scotland. Usually only end up spending about 50 minutes on the road.

Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks very much M-Boy, great help.

For what it's worth that sounds like one of the classic mistakes made by instructors, in only your second lesson you shouldn't really be made to do anything that's outside your comfort zone.

If you can get to test standard by about 15 lessons then you will be much quicker than the average from what I've been told in my training.

All the best for your test when you get there.

Thanks Digs, best of luck to you too. You sure you there aren't other jobs you could be doing? I mean, one life-threatening public service is too much for ordinary folks.

Trust me, I have been questioning my sanity once or twice. Mind you, a lot of the blokes at work do their part-time in the building trade or driving a black cab. Driving instructing was just the much more appealing option.

Cheers Crompton, can you remember how much you paid per lesson?

My brother-in-law is a driving instructor.

Not relevant as too long ago really to gage. I thought now-a-days around here is about £20 - £25 per lesson.

Discounted if you take say 6 or 12 out at a time.

Very insightful, cheers Mike.

City fan too

My mate sat her test recently and, having pressed the examiner just 5 minutes in if she'd failed or not for hitting a kerb, told him to get out of the car in the pissing rain a mile from the test centre when he said she had! Hahaha.

Nearly 2 years and much harder work than I'd realised down the line and finally today I am a qualified driving instructor.

I passed my ADI part 3 this morning at the second attempt so I can now officially start up my own business. I'm only going to be doing it part-time as I will keep my full-time job in the fire brigade.

So, here's where I need your help. What can I call the driving school? Going to register the company but can't think of a decent name for the school.

Good people of fiso, it's over to you..............

Conratulations

"Drive with Digsby"

Sorry... trying to think of some dreadful puns similar to those used in salon names by hairdressers

It's winning so far.

Cheers mate.

If I was a mathematician I'd call is DeRIVE

D:Rive might work (not that many teenage would-be drivers will have heard of D:Ream)

Well done Digsby! Knew you'd get it done

As for names, just call it after the area you live in or the street.

Or, given your other profession.... L-Fire!

I think he should get a sticker of your avatar to put on the dashboard (for the driver and him)

Any Italian roots.

"pasta test"

I thought pasta was cake in Italian

Aye, call it Digsby's 'Don't Panic' Driving School.

Firefighter driving school

To extinguish all your driving worries

Should get loads of female attention, whether they're learners or not

Lets be honest, it's the only reason I'm doing it.

I like L Fire but would prefer....... L's Fire

CRASH!!

She's not that bright then
What was her next move?

You could adopt the name of the school I learnt with:

Bunty

As close as you can get to BSM without infringing copyright - a touch of class will outlast witty alternatives in the long run. You're not trying to amuse folks. just sow the seeds of expectation by suggesting reliability and an inevitable pass.

The driving school is up and running as of today!

The name was under my nose all along (no....not the cocaine driving school ). I live next to a road called the Highway, The Highway school is at the end of my road, Highway code etc etc.....

.....by the way it's called Highway school of motoring