Possibly the scariest memory of my entire life was when, on the first lesson, my
Driving Instructor stopped the car in a lane just off a main road and turned off the ignition, saying `okay we`ll swap over and now it`s your turn to drive`. I was nearly twenty years of age and had enjoyed almost two decades of absolution of responsibility in the driving department. This was a crossroads. With shaking limbs and constantly rising blood pressure, I occupied the driving seat, completely clueless. I was aware of what the steering wheel would do but completely unaware of the functions of any other controls. Moreover, I was in total fear of my
Driving Instructor. He was an ex regimental sergeant major and, since leaving the army, had become a
Driving Instructor for none other than the police. I had no chance. Under the RSM`s orders, I duly chose neutral gear, switched on the ignition, depressed the clutch pedal, selected first gear, generated some revs, released the clutch and….nearly shot us both through the windscreen. I looked over to him on the verge of tears and….he laughed. `That was a xxxxxx awful start`, he said. `You can`t get worse than that`. He had a sense of humour after all. The RSM got me through my lessons and my test by being a wonderfully sympathetic
Driving Instructor. Phil Brown, who is the proprietor of Safeway UK, says `Skills in driving develop and more confidence is gained`. I know this from experience. It took a wonderful
Driving Instructor to guide me from such a disastrous start to thirty years of prang free motoring.