Explicitly forbidden to practice L driving ?

[Steve Campbell]

Hi folks, my sons driving instructor cannot legally give lessons, but he’s posted today saying that neither can we in our own cars, even if it’s during a reasonable excuse journey.

I’m hunting for the legislation that supports (or not !) this view. Anybody help ?

This is the .gov link but not the legislation.
https://www.gov.uk/driving-lessons-learning-to-dri...

It explicitly stated “you cannot practice in England”

[anonymous-user]

There is no such legislation.

[anonymous-user]

Steve Campbell said:

...my sons driving instructor cannot legally give lessons...

That is because he is bullstting.


PS: There is no driving instructor privilege It's not a thing.

[Steve Campbell]

Thanks BV. It’s interesting that in this case the .GOV site uses explicit language “ You cannot practise driving in England.” rather than the more carefully worded “should” elements on the general Covid topics....that was what alerted me.

I presume the reasonable excuse for leaving the house applies equally here, ie it would be perfectly reasonable to leave to have a driving lesson, and even closer should shopping or another “obvious” essential journey was involved.

Thanks for continuing to provide clarity on these topics in the eye of the law. Managed to find any pro bono work yet with anyone actually fined :-) ?

[anonymous-user]

I have enough to do with a big trial coming up so am happy not to have any free gigs on.

[Sheepshanks]

That's interesting - I was held up yesterday by a learner in a private car who couldn't get going on an uphill entry to a roundabout so other drivers were squeezing past on the inside. I wondered if they should have been out.

When they got going they went around and back the way they'd come.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 10th January 12:37

[Steve Campbell]

My son has an exam at his school on Tuesday morning. He will be driving home. Will report if my wife and he are locked up :-).

[NGee]

Steve Campbell said:

Hi folks, my sons driving instructor cannot legally give lessons, but he’s posted today saying that neither can we in our own cars, even if it’s during a reasonable excuse journey.

I’m hunting for the legislation that supports (or not !) this view. Anybody help ?

This is the .gov link but not the legislation.
https://www.gov.uk/driving-lessons-learning-to-dri...

It explicitly stated “you cannot practice in England”

If your sons driving instructor believes he can tell you what to do in your own car I would strongly suggest you get a new instructor.

TVR is a driving instructor on this forum, it'll be interesting to see his view.

[Rozzers]

No explicit restrictions, my advice is to throw a few bags in the boot and in the highly unlikely scenarios you get stopped by a pedant, simply state you are driving to the shops for essentials.

[BertBert]

NGee said:

If your sons driving instructor believes he can tell you what to do in your own car I would strongly suggest you get a new instructor.

TVR is a driving instructor on this forum, it'll be interesting to see his view.

I imagine he is just repeating what the .gov website says rather than dictating, so probably no need to find a new instructor on the basis you are suggesting.

[WonkeyDonkey]

BertBert said:

I imagine he is just repeating what the .gov website says rather than dictating, so probably no need to find a new instructor on the basis you are suggesting.

There website does quite clearly say you 'cannot' go for a drive as a learner if you live in England.

Reinterpreting what the government is saying does seem the flavour of the month though on these forums....

[Jasandjules]

Have you asked him to point you to the law?

I have had friends tell me the Govt Guidance says X or Y so we can't do it. But the legislation does not...........

[havoc]

Zulu 10 said:

It is one thing to finesse the legislation within its scope in order to produce guidance, but to produce guidance that exceeds the scope of the legislation, and then promulgate it such that the Police enforce it as 'Law' is contradictory to the Rule of Law.

...and then they double-down on it on national TV, supporting the police who have enforced their guidelines with such zeal.

[anonymous-user]

Provisional licence holders are legally allowed to drive (with the correct supervision). Just because they are driving doesn't necessarily mean they are 'practising'. For the government to say that suddenly all these licences are suspended would be a massive legal step.

Going out 'solely' to practise may or may not be a good idea, but there is nothing stopping a provisional licence holder driving for any reasonable purpose.

I'll be taking my son with me next time we have an evening trip to the supermarket and he can do a few laps of the empty car park before driving me home.

[anonymous-user]

WonkeyDonkey said:

There website does quite clearly say you 'cannot' go for a drive as a learner if you live in England.

Reinterpreting what the government is saying does seem the flavour of the month though on these forums....

The website is not based on anything in the legislation.

[anonymous-user]

I add that "what the Government is saying" and the law have not been the same thing since the seventeenth century.

[Gary C]

Breadvan72 said:

I have enough to do with a big trial coming up.

What did you do !



Sorry , couldn't resist (use the same joke at home every time the wife says 'I'm in court tomorrow')

[48k]

havoc said:

Zulu 10 said:

It is one thing to finesse the legislation within its scope in order to produce guidance, but to produce guidance that exceeds the scope of the legislation, and then promulgate it such that the Police enforce it as 'Law' is contradictory to the Rule of Law.

...and then they double-down on it on national TV, supporting the police who have enforced their guidelines with such zeal.

Wonder how much would it cost to crowd fund a Breadvan TV advert counterstrike?

[Mave]

WonkeyDonkey said:

There website does quite clearly say you 'cannot' go for a drive as a learner if you live in England.

Reinterpreting what the government is saying does seem the flavour of the month though on these forums....

To be fair, the government websites themselves seem to be reinterpreting the law...

[monthou]

My son's just applied for his provisional. I'll be sticking L plates on when he gets it.
There's a survey you can do at the bottom of that gov.uk page - I've used it to complain about them making up law.