The Public and Commercial Services Union voted in favour of strike action and an overtime ban.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said: “These cuts, which will see loyal civil and public servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job, are more about crude politicking than making savings.

“We have suggested ways in which the Government can make these savings whilst protecting the rights of existing members, yet it seems intent on penalising the people who keep this country running.”

Changes to redundancy and compensation agreements will see staff lose entitlements and redundancy pay.  Further strike dates may be finalised when the union’s national executive committee meet next week.

Candidates with driving tests booked for either the 8th or 9th March should contact the DSA on 0300 200 1122 for further guidance.

The company which was founded in 1992 has 22 instructor training colleges throughout the UK.  LVG also offers accountancy services to driving instructors under the FBTC brand and publishes the driving instruction industry magazine ‘ADI News’.

Red Driving School recently featured on ITV’s Tonight Programme, ‘How to Blow Your Redundancy’, during which it was alleged that they were making false claims about earning potential as a Red driving instructor.

LVG’s instructor training division (formerly known as ‘The Instructor College’), has been responsible for training thousands of potential driving instructors, but with the Part 3 pass rate at only 28%, many will not have qualified.

The number of Approved Driving Instructors on the Driving Standards Agency Register has increased dramatically from 29,000 in 1999 to over 43,000 in 2008. The number of ADI’s currently on the Register is unknown.

For further information on the Administration of LVG Ltd, click here.

Following vehicle recall notices issued by Toyota and Peugeot Citroen, the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has announced conditions for allowing affected vehicles on the driving test.

Recall notices affect the following vehicles with the specified build dates:

Toyota
AYGO (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)
iQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009) – already considered unsuitable for test.
Yaris (Nov 2005 – Sep 2009)
Auris (Oct 2006 – 5 Jan 2010)
Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009)
Verso (Feb 2009 – 5 Jan 2010)
Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009)
RAV4 (Nov 2005 – Nov 2009)

Peugeot 107 (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)

Citroen C1 (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)

In total, Toyota and Peugeot Citroen are recalling around 320,000 UK-basedvehicles. As yet, VIN number ranges have not been released.

Using these cars on the driving test

If one of the vehicles affected is presented for test, it will only be conducted if either:

• the vehicle has a manual transmission gearbox and is fitted with dual controls to help the examiner control the car in the unlikely event of a failure
• documentation is supplied to show that the remedial work has been carried out – this will usually be in the form of the Toyota or Peugeot Citroen recall letter stamped by the respective dealer and containing written confirmation

Candidates who cannot proceed with their test should contact DSA customer services to arrange for their test to be rebooked once the remedial work has been done.

As there has been no prior warning of this action, if the test is not conducted the fee will be refunded or a free retest given on the first occasion that a specific vehicle is presented for test. Customers can ring DSA customer service on 0300 200 1122.

Here is the pre-watershed version:

Road Safety Minister Paul Clark said, “If you are involved in an accident while not wearing a seat belt then your body experiences a series of three collisions damaging vital internal organs.  This campaign reminds drivers that – no matter how short their journey or how slowly they are driving – they are risking their life if they set off without putting their seat belt on.

“I hope this campaign will help everyone realise that they need to belt up every time they get in a car.”

With recent research showing that drivers are less likely to belt up on low speed, short journeys on familiar roads, the £1.3 million THINK! Campaign hopes to show that drivers are still risking their lives.  Drivers are twice as likely to die in a crash if they do not wear a seat belt and if everyone belted up, one life a day could be saved.

The full advert can only be aired after 9pm due to its graphic content.

Coaching is not just a case of asking questions (which instructors do already as part of their everyday teaching).  It is about asking questions which raise the awareness and responsibility from within the coachee.  There are many tools that instructors can use from within the coaching toolbox and the effects of using coaching with learners can be quite profound.

Sir John Whitmore & Ged Wilmot

To date, there has been little information available about coaching specifically for driving instructors. Last year, the University of East London ran its pilot course – a Postgraduate qualification in ‘Coaching for Driver Development’ in which a handful of the best professional driver trainers and coaches from all aspects of the driving world were invited to attend.  I was fortunate enough to be one of the delegates invited to attend that course, along with my good friend and colleague Kathy Higgins of Insight2Drive. We have recognised that courses and workshops for driving instructors are few and far between and so we have developed a one day coaching course specifically designed for Approved Driving Instructors.

The one day ‘Practical Coaching Techniques for Driving Instructors’ interactive workshop offers driving instructors essential information which can be incorporated into the everyday work of an ADI.  The content will include basic principles and benefits of using coaching in driver training, what makes a good coach, and lots of practical coaching techniques.  There are two workshop dates currently available, Monday 22nd February 2010 in Oldham and Thursday 18th March 2010 in Liverpool.

Both courses will be run by me (Ged Wilmot), Claire Wilmot and Kathy Higgins. Having a wealth of driver coaching experience, we are excited to be able to offer such a course to ADI’s throughout the North West of England.

The course fee is £139, which includes lunch and refreshments. Spaces are limited and going fast, so you’ll need to act quickly!

If you would like further information about the course, please contact Claire Wilmot on 07956 104160 or complete the contact form on the Active Driving Solutions website.

This is resulting in the need for all provisional test candidates to take their theory test pass certificate information with them to the driving test centre for the examiner’s inspection before conducting the practical test.

Driving tests have been refused and cancelled as a result of a candidate not having these documents for inspection, despite the request to do so in the practical test application literature.  For full details on what you need to take with you to the test centre, click here. This video gives you full information on the practical driving test:

Please ensure you take the correct documentation with you!

The study found that 0.9% of hybrid cars were involved in accidents with pedestrians compared to a 0.6% pedestrian accident figure for regular cars.

The NHTSA’s report may help support the need for fitting hybrid cars with noisemaking systems to alert pedestrians, cyclists and especially blind people.  With no engine noise the hybrid vehicles can potentially put pedestrians and cyclists at significant risk.

In Japan, hybrid cars have become the country’s top selling vehicles.  A transport ministry official said: “We have received opinions from automobile users and vision-impaired people that they feel hybrid vehicles are dangerous.  Blind people depend on sounds when they walk, but there are no engine sounds from hybrid vehicles when running at low speed and on the electric motor.”

The ministry consulted with a panel of police, consumers, vision impaired groups, scholars and the automobile industry to discuss options.  In the first meeting, it was decided to introduce a sound making function.  The panel has not decided on what kind of sound should be used, only that it should induce a response of caution.

Photo: Ford

Car manufacturer Ford is introducing innovative new seatbelts that inflate like airbags to give extra protection to passengers in the event of a collision.

Ford is fitting the back seats of vehicles with belts that inflate automatically during a crash.

Ford will be fitting the new seatbelts into the new Ford Explorer 4 x 4 which goes into production in 2010.  Experts say the new technology will be particularly effective at preventing broken ribs, internal damage and bruising.

Inflating over the shoulder and torso in a mere 40 milliseconds, a cylindrical airbag stretches from the buckle to the shoulder and fits inside a pocket in the belt.

Sensors calculate the severity of a crash impact and inflate the belts with compressed gas, stored below the seat.  The airbag breaks through the fabric of the belt and spreads the force of the impact over an area five times larger than a traditional belt.  The seatbelt helps to keep the passenger in the safest seating position and reduces pressure on the chest as well as controlling head and neck movement.

Vice-president of safety engineering at Ford, Sue Cischke said, ‘Ford’s rear inflatable seatbelt technology will enhance safety for rear seat passengers of all ages, especially for young children who are more vulnerable in crashes.’

The inflatable belts work like conventional seatbelts and are safe for everyday use along with a child seat or booster seat.

In testing, more than 90 per cent of people said they were similar to or more comfortable than traditional belts.

The Liverpool Daily Post reported that between April and September this year, police gave out tickets to more than 20,000 drivers for using handheld mobiles while in charge of their vehicles.

Even a driving instructor was among those hit with an £60 penalty and three points on their licence. The driving instructor was teaching a learner driver at the time!

Merseyside Police warned that the number of killed or seriously injured on the road could potentially increase unless they enforced the law. The cause of accidents while driving is not recorded, so there is no available data for how many people may have perished on UK roads because of mobile use.

Police authority members and city leaders said the number of offenders caught represented just “the tip of the iceberg” and suggested the true number of drivers putting lives at risk was much higher. In fact, the problem is so great, the force’s central ticket office is “operating at maximum capacity due to the high level of enforcement”.

Figures show that between April last year and March this year, 14,386 people were caught using a handheld while driving, that’s around one in every 100 people in Merseyside.

Merseyside Police Chief Inspector, Chris Markey said: “Using a mobile phone while driving makes you four times more likely to crash so I am sure the public will understand why we are so determined to stop people from doing so.

“The number of fixed-penalty notices issued last year to motorists committing this type of offence showed this is a top priority for the force and we will continue to crack down on this problem. They are not only risking their safety, but the safety of innocent motorists and pedestrians.

“However, like drink driving was years ago, using a mobile phone at the wheel – despite clearly being dangerous and illegal – is still viewed by some people as acceptable.”

Our new fast ‘pass in a week’ crash course means that customers can now start their lessons on a Monday and pass on the Friday!

Although these courses are referred to as ‘crash courses’, rest assured, we will not be teaching you to crash!  Quite the opposite.  Lessons taken intensively mean that with little time to forget in between lessons, learning is much quicker.

In fact, latest Government research found that of all successful test candidates, the average number of hours taken with an instructor was 47 and the average time taken to pass the test was 13 months!  With our pass in a week crash course, the cost will be much lower than taking weekly lessons.

Our all-inclusive ‘pass in a week’ crash course is being offered at an introductory price of just £599, which means that compared to taking lessons weekly, you could save hundreds of pounds.  Although the majority of our customers pass in less hours than the national average, based on the national average figures, you could save over £400 with our ‘pass in a week’ crash course!

We’re also so confident that the vast majority of our customers taking the ‘pass in a week’ crash course will achieve a pass at the end of the week that we guarantee to pay for your next test if you are unfortunate enough not to pass on the first attempt!

Places on the ‘pass in a week’ crash course are limited so to avoid disappointment, we recommend that you ring us on 0161 345 3452 or contact us through our website asking for an application form.