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Finally, Driving Lessons can start again.
Well, it has been a long time coming but finally, after 98 days of the latest Covid lockdown, driving lessons are due to start again in England on the 12th of April with driving tests due to start again from the 22nd of April.
As you can imagine it has been a very long and challenging time for both our pupils, many of which were test ready or close to it before lockdown and who possibly still have a substantial wait for a new driving test date. But also for our team of driving instructors who for the most part are self-employed and have had a real challenge both financially and also mentally with the effects of social distancing in this lockdown taking its toll on us all.
It has seemed at times like the day would never come again that we could get back to doing the job we love but it is finally upon us and for the past week our team have been busy working their way through the backlog of customers that have signed up to our waiting list during the lockdown.
We are also faced with the challenge that not all of our driving instructors are returning to our team, some have been forced during the lockdown to seek alternative employment and have decided to hang up their green badge and stay with their new employment, others have decided to go out on their own as an independent driving instructor and we wish them well with their new direction.
So what effect has this had on our business, well in real terms I think with the loss of some team members and the financial cost of the latest lockdown, our business has probably been set back by at least 2-3 years which has meant a lot of restructuring and cost-cutting on our part.
But the good news is, as of 12 April 2021, we are now back open and ready to carry on helping as many of you as possible to pass their driving test and gain your independence and freedom.
So what’s the deal with driving tests
During the lockdown all driving test even for keyworkers were suspended, this has lead to a backlog of over 420,000 cancelled driving tests that all have had to be rescheduled to start again from April 22nd. As you can imagine, this has caused a massive wait for driving tests and at the moment you could be looking at September or beyond for new customers looking to book a driving test. The DVSA has said it could take at least 12 months to return to any normality with regards to the availability of driving tests.
As you can imagine, this has played havoc with our business and especially our intensive courses which are in big demand but without any driving tests available we are unable to book for new customers at the moment.
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