Frequently Asked Questions

When you are ready, your Safe Drive Instructor will arrange your test for you on payment of the Transport Booking Fee. Alternatively you can call our Central Booking Office, provide us with your learners permit number and payment details and we will arrange your test. You can book a test directly with Transport, however there is no guarantee that your specific Instructor is available at that time.

When you are ready, your Safe Drive Instructor will arrange your test for you on payment of the Transport Booking Fee. Alternatively you can call our Central Booking Office, provide us with your learners permit number and payment details and we will arrange your test. You can book a test directly with Transport, however there is no guarantee that your specific Instructor is available at that time.

This depends on the individual, as every student has different abilities, needs, levels of experience and different opportunities to practice. Be aware of anyone who “quotes” a number of lessons over the phone as it is impossible, without first assessing your current skill levels. Once one of our Driving Instructors have assessed your current skill level, ability and have ascertained how much practice you can obtain between lessons, we will be able to provide you with an accurate estimate.

Please keep in mind that you can never have too many lessons as the more professional training you have then the safer you will become prior to going solo.

The decision to learn in an automatic transmission or a manual car depends upon many factors including personal choice, skill level, confidence and the cars you are able to practice in. It is important to be aware however, that in city if you gain your licence in an automatic car; you are not permitted to drive a manual until you successfully pass a practical test with City Transport, in a manual vehicle.

This timeframe will vary for absolutely every student. You are ready for the practical driving test when you can drive confidently and consistently without the help of your Safe Drive instructor. As you are getting closer, your Instructor will run you through a mock test to demonstrate what stage you are up to.

Driving involves combining theory with physical skills and judgement. Practice is essential and the more practice you have, the less number of professional driving lessons you may require to be at the standard required to pass the test. Practice is vital and the requirement is that a new driver has 100 hours of log book experience prior to sitting for their practical driving test.

Yes – All the quoted prices include test fees because we automatically book the tests for you. However, you are also free to register if you already have your test booked, in which case we will just strike off the test fees from your total charge.

Even when you fail the theory test, the driving instructor will continue to train you with the right skills within the scheduled hours of training for that week. We can book you another theory test for £35 within a week’s time, depending on the next available slots for local theory tests.

Our service is structured to have a staff team that tries to book you in a short notice driving test. As the instructors take you through the driving lessons, part of the staff is doing the administration work behind your test. This is a big difference from many other driving schools that only rely on one person who takes learners through the lessons and doing the admin work during evening shifts. As a result, those schools relying on one instructor to do everything rarely have enough time to sort out learners details with the DVSA office. Our service can take advantage of cancellations made by other pupils in your local test centres and make quick rebooking arrangements for you before the slots are taken by other pupils. The reason you will have many schools informing you that the next driving test is more than 3 months away is that they do not have a dedicated team constantly on phone looking for newly available slots. On the contrary, getting those slots is what we do best! You have a 90% chance of landing a test on the final day of your course. Even the very few that don’t take place on the same day usually get done within a couple of days.

There is never a guarantee that you will pass the test on your first try, however, we try to make sure you have a very high chance of passing. It is normal to make small mistakes and if you made a small error, you can always rebook through us if you call immediately. Currently, the DVSA will only allow test to be sat after 10 working days. If you notify us immediately, we can make arrangements so that you take your retest as early as the prescribed 10th working day. You will just need to have a few hours of practise before the second test to get your skills in check. If you happen to have made too many errors or kept making dangerous faults, it is recommended that you take extra training lessons before you consider booking that second attempt. Driving lessons may seem expensive to some but they are much costlier if you keep on taking tests that you are not ready for.

Definitely! If you have the right amount of practice hours covered in a week and you have already passed your theory test, you can get the first test done on the first Friday. If you pass that test you definitely get your license in a week! It may sometimes take a few days longer because that depends on the cancelled slots in your area unless if you opted to use the normal test waiting lists and book way in advance.

We have our phone lines open for general enquiries whereas our online booking is available 24 hours a day through our online booking form. You can also email queries 24 hours a day. You need to book by making a deposit prior to the course commencing. Simply access our Barclaycard payment gateway on the online booking form and pay securely through Debit or Credit card. Alternatively, an email invoice can be sent to you for payment through the same system or bank transfer.

We offer some of the most flexible scheduling of the course lessons around and if your schedule is also flexible for us, you may end up saving more money. It is however important to notice that when it comes to test availability, it all depends on the DSA. We however have the experience to arrange quick tests for pupils at centres that look most suitable for their needs. We ensure that the available instructors also provide quality lessons at very fair costs.

Some learners usually feel that they are not test ready even though they have developed all the skills needed to pass the test. This happens due to panic, normal psychological pressure or morale loss. The instructor may still encourage you to take the test as it helps you gain the experience of a driving test. They will only do so if they are convinced that you have all the skills of a competent driver. They will need to be sure that you are safe enough to take the test or use their car for the test but deny you the chance if you are unsafe. If you are denied the chance to take test, the paid lessons that were meant for the test session will be converted to ordinary training lessons and your test lost.

Some people prefer to use their own car and have a friend accompany them to the test centre but with that option, you choose to forfeit the lessons that had been reserved for to be done alongside your instructor over the test.

It all depends on your flexibility and the local driving test centre, some people may or may not make it for the test date. A lot of cancellations happen in between and that opens a lot of leeway for us since we are constantly liaising with the DSA to get information on recently forfeited and now free slots. You also have a high chance of getting an earlier test date if you accept a pre-set appointment with another test centre.

All the instructors have the green badge qualification for ADI instructors. You will not be allocated to a trainee or instructor without full qualifications. Furthermore, DBS checks are done every time the instructors carry out their green badge renewal.

A lot goes into scheduling a course to ensure both you and the instructor have aligned availability. Abruptly cancelling or altering a course after it has been booked and paid for is also counter-productive to the instructor because they will not be instructing on the earlier agreed schedules. Always make sure you can honour your scheduling agreement when booking.

Our office is in Barnet @ EN5 2FT, but we have a good network of instructors nationwide who teach the courses. You can take advantage of our door-step service whether you are at home, at work or schooling. For Barnet @ EN5 2FT, pupils can also agree on a meeting point if travel is an issue.

In very rare and extreme cases when your booking cannot be fulfilled, the deposits are fully refunded.