Whether you are a complete beginner or have previous UK driving experience, or indeed if you currently have an international driving licence which is about to expire, Passing Place offers flexible driving courses to suit your needs including standard, semi-intensive and intensive lessons. Don't worry if you feel nervous about starting to learn drive; lessons are tailored to your needs and experience (if any).
You will progress through a structured course of lessons covering the complete Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency syllabus in preparation for your driving test. You will learn and develop skills such as:
• Use of controls
• Moving off and stopping
• The emergency stop
• Dealing with basic junctions, crossroads and roundabouts
• Town centre driving
• Driving on dual carriageways
• Driving in rural roads
• Progressive driving
• Defensive driving
• Independent driving (following a Sat Nav, traffic signs and markings)
• Straight line reversing
• Reversing to the left into a side road
• Turn in the road
• Forward parking into a bay and then reversing out
• Reversing into parking bay
• Reverse parallel parking
• Pulling up on the right, reversing and then moving off back into traffic
Your Instructor will also give you help and advice on the Theory Test and Hazard Perception Test.
If you are already partly-trained, or are returning to learning to drive after a break, then the course will usually begin with an Assessment Drive, if appropriate, so that your Instructor can establish your current standard of driving. The course then proceeds at a suitable level given your ability.
Once you have reached driving test standard, you will also do some mock driving tests (see below for more details) to give you experience of what the actual test will feel like, and to check how you cope until test conditions. You and your Instructor can then work on any problem areas before sitting your real test!
Mock driving tests are an invaluable tool in your training to pass the practical exam. Passing Place offers mock driving tests to give you a guide as to how the real driving test works; to see how you fair under test conditions; and to provide feedback on your performance after the test. Any problems identified on a mock test can then be worked on until they are corrected, before sitting the real test! Mock tests are also a great way to become familiar to various test routes.
Intensive driving courses are available, for those wanting to learn as quickly as possible. This means taking many lessons in a short period of time (typically over a few weeks, though this period can be flexible) with a view to taking the practical driving test at the end of the course. Intensive lessons follow the same syllabus as standard learner driving lessons. Intensive courses will not suit everyone because there is a lot of material to cover and not much time to remember it all!
Refresher lessons are aimed towards full driving licence holders who want to improve their driving, maybe because they not having driven for a while, and to build confidence out on the busy roads.
A refresher course normally begins with an assessment drive, starting on quiet roads, to establish your current standard of driving. Your instructor will then give you feedback on the positive parts of you driving and any technical errors / driving faults. From there you will start to fix faults and improve your skills.
Refresher courses are flexible to accommodate individual needs; a course can range from just a few hours training to several months. What you would like to work on is entirely open: some pupils concentrate of general driving, others like to focus on brushing up on their parking skills, while others might be starting a new job and want to practice their commuting route.
Whether you've just passed your driving test or are a more experienced driver and are a little daunted by the prospect of travelling on the UK's motorways, taking some professional motorway driving training will be invaluable and make you better, more confident all round driver.
Basingstoke has fantastic road transport links; the town is located right by Junction 5 and Junction 6 of the M3, whereby you can drive directly to the M25 corridor (London) and the M27 (Southampton/Portsmouth), both only 30 miles away. Furthermore, just a short trip up the A33 from Basingstoke leads you to the M4.
So living and driving in Basingstoke will inevitably mean at some point you'll need to use the motorway!
A Pass Plus course is designed for pupils who have recently passed their driving test and want to take some further lessons to gain more driving experience, particularly in road conditions unlikely to have been encountered in their learner driving course. The course has no examination at the end and can be completed in one full day. As well as gaining invaluable driving skills you will keep with you for life, you might also qualify for an car insurance discount.
If you are a full licence holder looking to become a taxi driver, then you will certainly require some professional help and guidance. A course of lessons will prepare you for everything you need to know to pass the taxi test, from an an initial assessment of your current standard of driving to fixing bad driving habits and being guided through the complete DVSA taxi test syllabus.
If you are looking to seriously improve your driving skills or take an advanced driving test, or indeed if you would like to become a driving instructor, you will undoubtedly require some advice and training.