Brad's Driving School

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Welcome To

Brad's Driving School

Tuition For Manual & Automatic Driving

Looking To Learn To Drive?

Simply Follow The Steps Bellow To Get Started:

Apply for your provisional license
Theory Test: You will need to study and pass your theory test
Start booking your driving lessons with BDS
Once ready BDS can help apply and accompany you on your test

Commonly Asked Questions:

Unsure If Driving Is For You?

Learning to drive can be scary, confusing and seem overly complicated. Driving is a skill that is developed that takes time, patience and commitment with a good level of coaching all the way up till taking your practical test. Don't worry Brad's Driving School will work with you every step of the way.

How Many Hours Will I Need?

The amount of driving lessons should be around 45 hours with an addition of 22 hours of practice with a family member before being test ready. Remember the more lessons you take, the better and safer a driver you will become. The frequency of your lessons make a big difference to how long it takes to become test ready, if your able to have more than one lesson within a week you are more likely to retain more information and develop a better memory recall.

What's the Cost?

Learning to drive is expensive but it is a life long skill that gives you freedom and can help broaden your future. There are many things to consider when starting to learn to drive and they do add up very quickly. The average person who learns to drive spends around £6k just to get there licence and remember that's an average and can cost more!

Here Is Some Examples of Costs:

Applying for your provisional license £34

Theory test £23

Theory Apps £5 - £15

45hrs of driving lessons £2000 - £2500

Practical test £75

Practical test car rental (varies on instructor) £100 - £150

Leaner insurance £972 per year (UK average)

First car £5500 (UK average)

First Insurance policy £1000- £1500 per year

Road Tax £0 - £375 per year

Fuel £80 - £130 per month

Will I Need Motorway Lessons?

Not everyone will need Motorway lessons, but learning to drive on the motorway can be scary and its not something that has to be done alone, Brad's Driving School can help. Driving on the Motorway in the uk requires concentration, extra saftey checks and confidence. Its not esental to undergo Motorway lessons with an driving instructor, but if you feel like it would help you be more confident, refresh your knowledge or just for the comfort of knowing you have someone with you, then it might be worth doing.

Motorway Lesson Prices (Click Here)

Should I Learn Manual Or Automatic?

One of the most asked questions is "Auto or Manual" and its a hard question to answer, especially with wait-times being so high and driving tests being so hard to come across. Automatic & manual both have there pros and cons, but this also depends on you as a learner and how you are able to manage a manual gear box while learning about the road. Some pupils find manual a little too much and struggle to not get distracted by the gears, others may struggle with confidence and find that it causes them an issue. Most of the issues a new leaner may face, tends to be easier to deal with when learning automatic and sometimes can help boost confidence as there is no risk of stalling or selecting the wrong gear.

Of course automatic is quicker and ultimately this makes it cheaper, but lets look more into the pros & cons of both:

Leaning To Drive Automatic

Pros of Automatic:

Gear changers are automatic, you just select (D) for drive and that means there is 0% chance of stalling.
Automatics tend to be a smoother and more comfortable drive, leading to a calmer driver.
Less thing to focus on in the car, meaning more time to focus on safety checks and the road ahead.
Easier to park as automatic crawl at low speeds whilst in drive or reverse, making the manoeuvre easier to focus on.
Newer automatics can be much more fuel efficient depending on the age and engine of the car, this can save you money in the long run.

Cons of Automatic:

Some older automatic cars can be less fuel efficant.
Automatic cars are normally more expensive and cost more to maintain.
Although automatics do not have manual gear box's, they do tend to last longer as they don't receive damage from human error. They do however cost more to repair in terms of parts.

Leaning To Drive Manual

Pros of Manual:

More control over the car, especially in adverse weather.
Manuals can be cheaper to run if driven properly.
Manual cars are normally cheaper to buy and maintain compared to automatic's.
Normally a manual car is cheaper to buy insurance for.

Cons of Manual:

Can be much more distracting having to worry about changing gears frequently.
When changing gears some drivers find that taking a hand off the wheel can cause steering issues which could be unsafe.
Stalling, it is really easy to stall a manual car and it can cause panic and drivers feeling left flustered.

What Do I Need To Look Out For When Looking For An Instructor?

PDI

Potential Driving Instructor

PDIs are potential driving instructors, i.e. those who are still in the process of training to become ADIs. To be considered a PDI and possess a trainee licence (also known as a pink badge), you need to have passed parts one and two of the ADI test, and completed at least 40 hours of training (with at least 10 in-car hours).

PDIs on a trainee licence are yet to have passed the final test to become an ADI.

PDIs tend to be cheaper per hour, however are still leanring and are unable to teach on motorways. Pupils will sometimes find that the instructor will somtimes have another instructor that will sit in the back of some of their lessons.

ADI

Approved Driving Instructor

An ADI is a fully qualified, approved driving instructor. To qualify as an ADI, you must complete three tests set by the DVSA. The first two tests will assess your driving ability and knowledge of the Highway Code (you can apply to become a PDI on completion of these), and the third test assesses how you train learner drivers, known as the Instructional Ability Test. Once you’ve met the requirements to become an ADI, and received your ‘green badge’ licence, you will have to meet certain requirements to maintain your ADI status. This includes completing periodic training and undergoing a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

If an instructor turns up to teach a lesson and does not display either of these two badges/ qualifications, you must ask them to take you home and refund you for the lesson. This means that the "instructor" is not a qualified instructor and is breaking the law not only this, but they are scamming you out of money and they must be reported to the DVSA. The instructor will also not have the correct insurance to teach putting not just themselves at risk, but also you and others around you.

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