Illegal Instruction

It is an offence under Section 123 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 for an individual to provide driving instruction for money or money’s worth unless they are suitably qualified and registered with the Driving Standards Agency.

The Agency takes allegations of illegal instruction very seriously and there are dedicated Investigators within its Fraud & Integrity Team to deal specifically with these types of cases. They will investigate every report of suspected illegal activity and if there is sufficient evidence to proceed, the case is passed to the police to progress through the judicial process.

The Fraud & Integrity Team also investigates allegations of impersonations of candidates at driving tests. Those who take tests on behalf of others present a danger to all road users, in that they provide an entitlement to drive to those who have never been assessed to prove that they are competent and safe to drive on our roads.

Instructors or potential driving instructors who have any suspicions regarding illegal instruction or candidate impersonations can contact the Fraud & Integrity Team Operational Intelligence Unit by the following methods:

Phone: 02920 581 155 (office hours only)

Phone: 02920 581 290 (out of hours)

Email: integrity.team@dsa.gsi.gov.uk

Please be assured that all information received will be treated in the strictest confidence.

When choosing a driving instructor, it is vitally important that you make sure the instructor is legal. Bogus driving instructors could be working in your area. In today's society, it's essential that you know who is teaching you, your son or daughter to drive.

By law, all licensed driving instructors have to display an appropriate licence clearly in the front windscreen of their car or a pupil's own car if using it for lessons. The licence will either be pink with a triangle on it, which means that the instructor is a trainee, or green with an octagon on it, which denotes a fully qualified driving instructor. Both are permitted to instruct. The licenses should be visible from the outside of the car, with the inside of the licence showing a photograph of the instructor and a valid date. It will also have the instructor's name and number on it.

There is no excuse for an instructor failing to show their licence in the windscreen of a training car. In fact there is up to a £1,000 fine if they get caught not displaying it. If you cannot see a licence you need to start asking questions. Anyone can purchase a roof sign and training materials in an attempt to look genuine, but a licence is only issued to approved instructors by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA). If an instructor works for a local or large driving school they must still show their licence in the windscreen. Furthermore, it is illegal for unapproved instructors to receive payment for tuition.

Learner drivers can check that their driving instructor is on the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) Register by calling the Approved Driving Instructor section on 0115 901 2618 or emailing them at adireg@dsa.gsi.gov.uk

The main reason illegal driving instructors operate is to earn money. Some of them will be completely untrained and some of them will be potential instructors who have failed their examinations. However, there is a safety aspect too, as some will have criminal pasts.

Since the 12th March 2007 all new driving instructors will have undergone an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. This is done before they are allowed to enter the register of approved driving instructors. Instructors registered before this time are currently in the process of being checked and this task is expected to be completed within the next one to two years. The worrying statistic is that only 7,000 trainee instructors and 8,000 Approved Driving Instructors have been checked to date, out of a total of 41,000 instructors on the DSAs register.

The DSA website states that so far 'refusal or removal proceedings have been started against 12 trainee instructors and 8 Approved Driving Instructors' (source: www.dsa.gov.uk, latest news, 11 October 2007), with many more under investigation whose cases may never be brought to court. This reminds us that the need for caution is ever present. When learning to drive, in any case where inappropriate behaviour is displayed it is important that you report it immediately to the Driving Standards Agency, the licensing authority operating on behalf of the Government.

One other important aspect of driver training is insurance. All instructors should have specialised instructor insurance, which is Class C - hire & reward. If an instructor does not have this it is not valid and the occupants of the car are not covered.

Eddie Barnaville, CEO of the Driving Instructors Association says: "Approximately 25% of instructors are currently without the appropriate insurance. At the Driving Instructors Association we provide tailor-made insurance for all our members, to ensure all candidates are covered correctly".

Information on the green and pink licences can be seen in the official DSA guide to Driving 'The Essential Skills' available at the DIA website: (www.driving.org) £12.99.