(A brief reflection on recent past, present opening and the uncertain future)
Being from the driver training industry, we welcome the government decision with cautiousness. At the same time we wish all our driving instructors and learner drivers a very happy, safe and effective lesson time.
Time during lockdown:
Most driving instructors are self-employed and work on their own. However, by being connected to different organizations in this industry and to its professionals during the recent lockdown period, we have kept ourselves updated and on our toes at the same time.
Through the lockdown period we have kept in touch on ZOOM, Via WhatsApp groups, Facebook, emails and other social media platform available through internet. There were online discussions, training seminars and daily sharing of our thoughts and concerns with each other. So in that sense internet has served us all very well.
We all have been in the same storm but not in the same boat as each one of us had/have our own individual situations. Some of us have lost few friends/family members in this storm called “Covid-19”. Through these times we were also stimulated to think clearly and ask ourselves hard questions about ours and others safety, taking extra precautions and counting the increasing cost of lessons etc. etc.?
Many of us were also getting frustrated when no clear information was coming out from the DVSA officials for a long time. Leaders from the driving industry organisations kept asking the DVSA officials for updates and relevant guidelines. Meanwhile on the other hand the DVSA officials must have been frustrated too when they were not hearing anything clearly from the UK government officials.
Our learner drivers had also been contacting us to know when they could start their driving lessons and what would be the safety implications to reduce the risk of spreading the covid-19.
Present Opening:
Present opening is a breeze of fresh air but with masks & gloves on and windows open. Extra cleaning time and sanitizing is forcing ADIs to increase the cost of a lesson and some are only offering 2 hours lesson at a time to make it worth. Just few days ago the specific information started to come out from DVSA in regards to driving lessons. Yesterday (i-e. on Saturday 4th July), most of the ADI were able to get back on the road with all the extra safety measures, DVSA guidelines and SOPs alongside some new Terms and Conditions to protect all parties. DVSA is about to send new test dates out for the learner drivers. However, some of our learners are still waiting to hear from the dvsa about their new driving test date.
Uncertain Future:
If and when the second wave of the virus strikes how will we respond? What will be the learner’s response? Will the DVSA respond earlier this time? How many of us will still survive in this business? And there are lots of other questions that can be thrown in. But let’s be responsible to stay safe ourselves and protect others and take each day as it comes to give our best to help produce safe, skilled and confident drivers.
Please see the dvsa guidelines, follow the SOPs and anything else to be safe during learning and instructing driving.
Kind regards
ATLD Team
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