Driving to L and Back

About the Book

Are you mad? Have you got nerves of steel? Are you hoping to die soon? If the answers to all the above questions are yes, then you have what it takes to be a driving instructor. Twenty years as a driving instructor has made me appreciate the simple things in life. I spent ten years in the army, serving three tours of Northern Ireland, but none of that training could have possibly prepared me for what I was about to encounter the day I walked into the job center and saw a notice on the wall, which read, “Driving instructors wanted.” After qualifying by passing my three exams, I took to the road. This was it; I was on my own with my pupil. I was excited but at the same time nervous. My first lesson went well. The second lesson, I ended up in a ditch. The third lesson, I just was holding on to anything I could find. I have never been so pleased to arrive home and walk through my front door. Inside this book you will learn how to change gear from the comfort of your bed. You may even understand the logic why pupils think you drive on the right-hand side of the road in the United Kingdom, and if you ask a pupil to follow that bus, you don’t expect to end up parked up in the bus station.

About the Author

The hilarious stories in this book are all thanks to my amazing pupils, examiners, and driving instructors. Without their inputs, this book would still be just a pipe dream. I did quite a lot of research by talking to these people about writing this book and was overwhelmed by their response. “Yes, yes,” they all said. “A great idea.” “Can’t wait to read it.” So I would like to thank you one and all for your invaluable feedback. Special thanks go to all my family for being so understanding. I didn’t realize how grouchy I became while writing this book. I would come home from a hard day’s work and then get stuck into writing this book without much thought for their feelings. My family means a lot to me, so I would like to give them a mention. My wife, Julia; daughters, Emily Tatiana and Melanie; and my son, Joshua. My wife and Emily helped me with their constructiveness of this book. Emily also supplied four of the illustrations (no. 1, no. 4, no. 6, and no. 30).