You don’t need to wait until you are 17 before you get your first taste of proper driving. Young Driver offers your child this one to one tuition experience from a fully qualified driving instructor, to learn the basics of driving. From starting and accelerating to emergency braking, figure of 8, three-point turns and reverse parking all on a replica road system on private land. You can pay extra (+£15.99 per person) for In-Car film to save and share with your family and friends! They also get a Drive Diary to monitor their progress. All you need is to download their free Young Driver app via App Store or Google Play.
They also cater for older people and people with a wide range of disabilities, including those who are deaf, visually impaired, have learning difficulties or neurological disorders. My regular readers will know that Ms C is severely sight impaired. She would never be able to drive on a public road, but we were given this review opportunity to experience being behind the wheel of an actual dual control Vauxhall Corsa! It made her day and she was beaming after the experience and was talking about it all afternoon.
Before you book the Young Driver experience for your child, there are a few criteria to be noted. Firstly, you must be over 10 years old and over 1.42m tall so you can safely reach the pedals and see out of the windscreen. You will need to be in good health and have eyesight at least to the standard required by law for driving. Of course, I mentioned earlier that they also offer this experience to people with disabilities. So when you book, do remember to let them know.
This is not our first time experiencing Young Driver at Birmingham NEC. In fact, a couple of years ago, Ms C and Mr K had tried the Electric Firefly drive experience. This experience is a one of a kind two-seater car designed specifically for children aged four to ten, to help them master the basics of driving.
The Young Driver experience is not hard to find as NEC is well signed. It occupies a huge car park filled with cones and signs and they can cater for plenty of learner drivers at the same time. We reached the location with plenty of time to spare. Both instructors were patient and encouraging.
As this was their first time driving a real car, they were briefed on the spot before driving off. The instructor guided Ms C to her car and explained the important parts of the dashboard before moving into the passenger seat.
We were booked in for a 30-minute experience (there is a 60-minute option if you prefer) and time went really quickly. Mr C and I were just taking a couple of photos and videos, and soon their lessons were over.
During the lesson, they were asked to drive around, turn corners, use signalling, negotiate around the cones, brake and park. It was quite scary and fun at the same time, watching them speeding off and trying to avoid the cones and also other learner drivers on the road!
On one occasion, Ms C did run over and flatten a couple of the cones, especially while cutting a corner! She said she didn’t even notice and just enjoyed being behind the wheel.
As for Mr K, he got the hang of it very quickly and enjoyed the drive. Once they completed their lesson, they each received feedback from their instructors.
As both children were so enthused by this experience, we have booked them in for a 60-minute experience for Ms C’s birthday treat. I would definitely recommend it!
Did you know that Young Driver has more than 70 venues across the UK and has been operating since 2009? Their aim is to help to teach youngsters to drive over a longer period, therefore encouraging a safer generation of new drivers at 17. If you are looking for a gift this year, why not treat them to a chance to get behind the wheel of a real car. Alternatively, drive a Bentley, take a cool classic car for a spin, or an actual fire engine! For more information, please visit www.youngdriver.eu or call 0333 577 9010.
Disclosure: We were invited for a lesson for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.
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