Well the Driving Standards Agency (D.S.A) has to use Health and Safety rules. Practical driving tests are not conducted in bad weather conditions, for example when the roads are icy. This is for the safety of all concerned.

If you are due to take your practical test, follow the advice given on your appointment email or letter. Only call your test centre if there is bad weather in your local area (snow, ice, fog or high winds) on the day of your test.

When to Call

If your test is early in the morning, call as soon as you can on the day of your test.

If your test is in the afternoon, call the test centre later in the morning or early in the afternoon. Just because the early morning tests have been cancelled doesn’t guarantee that road conditions wont improve later in the day.

Its been cancelled

Should your test be cancelled you will automatically be booked a new test date at no cost to yourself. However no out of pocket expenses will be paid due to bad weather. Normally you should here something within 3 to 7 days.

Your Instructor

When in doubt contact your instructor for advice and information perhaps they know something you don’t.

This years THINK! Christmas drink drive campaign includes radio adverts, posters in pubs & clubs and online social media advertising via Facebook, to remind people of the consequences of a drink drive conviction. For more information, and the consenqueses of drink drivers actions visit visit THINK!

THINK! have also teamed up with the Coca-Cola Designated Driver campain offering free soft drinks at venues this Christmas click here to find out when and where.

This years campaign actively targets young men aged 17 – 29, who are consistently over represented in the drink drive casualty figures. The number of drink drive deaths has fallen by more than 75% since 1979, but still around 250 people are killed every year in collisions where the driver was over the limit.

The THINK! campaign runs from the December 1st till January 1st 2012.

Designated drivers should ask at the bar about how to take advantage of the offer, buy one get one free on Coke-Cola or diet Coke from the 9th December 2011.

Next year 2012 the Driving Standards Agency is going to stop publishing the actual questions used within the theory test. So students can longer memorise the questions from books. However we can still help you develop a great understanding of driver theory by using great tools. This we hope will reduce your stress levels, and accelerate your learning curve.

We are offering this free service to all our students, both new and those who are currently under tuition with us, including Intensive and Residential course’s. Talk to your instructor today to get signed up or contact us directly on 0800 002 9163.

To qualify you need to meet the following: -
· Be a resident of Staffordshire.
· Use a driving instructor registered with Staffordshire Road Safety Unit
· Have passed your driving test in the last 12 months.
· Willing to attend the ‘new driver course’.
· Have applied and registered before commencement of the scheme.

How much discount can you expect:
The Council as set the fee for registered instructors at £130.00. With a discount of £60.00 paid by the Road Safety Unit. You only pay the instructor £60.00 for your course. The discount is subject to budget availability and will be confirmed by the Road Safety Unit.

New Driver Course
The New Driver Course is compulsory to receive the discount. The courses are held on weekdays between 5pm and 7pm at seven venues within the county.

All courses are presented by a qualified driving instructor or one of Staffordshire County Council’s Road Safety Officers. The course itself is informal and designed for new drivers to increase their awareness for example: – speed awareness, peer pressure, fatigue, drink driving, and even how a driver’s personality or mood can affect their driving.

Download a Pass Plus Extra application form
Visit the offical DSA Pass Plus website

Interested in booking then visit for further details.

This tasks the student to drive for approximately 10 minutes, following a series of directions, including traffic signs.

To help the student understand their instructions a diagram may be used.

It doesn’t matter if a student can’t remember every direction that was given, or if they go the wrong way even experienced drivers get lost at times.

Some newspapers think that independent driving will reduce the pass rate.  However in trials reflecting a larger number of students, no significant fall in the pass rate was shown.

There are  short film’s on YouTube published by the D.S.A explaining more about independent driving.

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The provisional driving license enables you to begin the process of learning to drive, however it also enables you to be able to drive a few different vehicles and you can get out on the road perhaps sooner than you think.  Firstly you need to be at least 17 years of age before you can apply for your provisional license.

Applying is simple, all you need to do is to complete a form which can either be downloaded online or picked up from your local post office.  You then need to attach a couple of photos and send everything away and then wait for it to return.  This process normally takes in the region of one or two weeks and then you will receive your provisional license any you can then get behind the wheel and begin learning to drive.

As well as allowing you to learn to drive a car, your provisional license also enables you to learn to ride a motorcycle.  You will need to undertake a one or two day course called your ‘Compulsory Basic Training’ or CBT and then you are able to ride a bike on the road as long as you display your L plates at all times.  You can also only ride a bike which is less than 33bhp, which generally is a bike of no more than 125cc.

Once you have passed your driving test, you must send away your driving license including your pass certificate to enable your full license to be issued to yourself.  It is essential that you do not forget to do this as you only have a limited amount of time.  If you fail to send off for your full driving license within this period you will have to re sit your test.

So to sum up, make sure that before you get behind the wheel you need to be in receipt of your provisional driving license.  If you get stopped by the police and don not have your provisional you may receive a fine and even receive points before you even get your license.  Secondly remember to keep the DVLA updated, so as soon as you pass your test you must let them know and get your license updated.  Lastly keep your license safe and have it with you on your test day as without it you will not be allowed to undertake your test