First Driving Lesson

[john70]

I had my first driving lesson in 1955 in an Austin A40 Somerset with the Warwickshire School of Motoring, they had an office on the Stratford Road allmost opposite Farm Road, it was a Pound a lesson and I remember my instructor was Jim Smith, I paid up front for 12 lessons which included my test, which I took at Moseley test centre on the Yardley Wood Road close to Wake Green Rd. and passed 1st. time. Anyone else remember learning to drive?.

 

[Jayell]

My first driving lesson was in 1959 in a Ford Prefect. I was working at Slade Electrics in Slade Road, Erdington, and one of the men working there ran a driving school as a second job. I don't remember his first name (his surname was Gill), but it was Gill's School of Motoring. He was a lovely man and very supportive. I learned to drive in the lunch hours, driving around all the local factories where the men were sitting outside having their lunch - I remember them whistling as I went past, much to my embarrassment. I also paid for 12 x 1 hour lessons which cost me just over £11. The Driving Test cost £1. I took my test in 1959 at Kingsbury Road, Erdington, and passed first time.

 

[nickcc101]

Took driving lessons with Hanger motors school of motoring Broad st 1963. Car was a 105e Anglia. Failed first test when going through traffic lights at Five ways on red, followed friend of mine on road test with a concrete mixer. Scared the examiner though.

 

[Big Gee]

My old man took me down to the car-park of the GEC Witton on a Sunday afternoon, stuck me in the driving-seat of his Anglia, and asked me if I knew what each pedal was for and where the gear-stick was. In an hour I was driving like I'd done it all my life! I passed my test first time at The Broadway test centre just a couple of months later. That was in the mid-1960's, and strange to think how we used to just 'go for a drive' for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Big Gee

 

[coopbill7]

I first learned to drive in 1952,doing my national service with the R.A.F, We used to drive around the Blackpool tower nearly every day,the people of Blackpool were always complaining to the local paper,about R.A.F lorries holding up traffic,stalling and breaking down, they had good cause to moan. As part of our driving course we had to drive on a skid pan,(a section of road with oil spread on) to teach you what to do if got into a spin.:cry:

 

[Langstraat]

I've never had a lesson in my life.
When I was eight I went with Mom and Dad to West Bromwich. Dad parked up in a side street to fetch his new suit from Burton's leaving the pair of us to wait for half an hour. As most small kids this was an opportunity for me to sit in Dad's seat and pretend to drive. Mom dozed on the back seat. I made quiet driving noises as you do. Gripping the wheel and swaying from side to side. I messed about with the gear lever, wiggling it and then released the hand brake. The van moved slowly forward down a slight dip in the road gathering speed as it reached the low point and then glided up the gradient. I gripped the wheel and quickly understood how the steering worked. The car slowed and then stopped. Mom slept on. The car now started to roll backwards and the steering was now confusing, I managed to keep away from the gutter but this time it went across the road to the opposite side. As it slowed up I straightened the wheel. The car clipped the curb and stopped, almost in the same location as it was left but on the opposite side of the road. I climbed back into the passenger seat. When Dad returned with his new suit I was reading my comic. Mom woke up as he opened the door. He looked puzzled as he started the engine and as he reached to let off the hand brake looked over to me and smiled.
That year we went on Holiday to Aberwrystwith with Nan and Aunty Lily. Dad hired an automatic Zodiac. On Borth Sands Mom and Dad lit the primus stove and made a cuppa while I drove round and round doing figure of eights.
Many years later when I was 16 Dad had a heart attack whilst on Holiday in Portsmouth. I took his car out of the garage and drove it most nights eventually mastering gear changes. I had many cars before I took my test at 35. I drove to the test centre attached a pair of 'L' plates. The 'tester' asked where my 'driver' was I replied she had gone to the shops.
I passed first time.

 

[latoyabongaarts]

I have never leaned to drive and would really like to learn especially as my daughter grows she is going to want to go to places and public transport gets dire, she is 2 now so growing up fast, and if I was to ever have any more children which I would love to, a car would come in handy but I need lessons, and I know it's costly so I would need to save up but don't know how this is a option or just a dream that won't ever seem to come to reality and that would mak me sad, well my situation makes me sad how I got in so much trouble and debt is horrible. I am learning Quails School of Motoring
and their rules are amazing . I am hoping for the best now

 

[Morturn]

I learnt to drive with XL School of Motoring on Gravelly Lane Erdington. They originally had a fleet of Ford Anglia’s then changed to the Ford Escort MkI. I recall the lessons were about £2.00 an hour at the time.

 

[Smudger]

Good luck with learning to drive young`un. My latest car is an automatic & i love it, no more fiddling around with gears. I took my test in 1960 in a one ton lorry with a snatch gearbox, & failed miserably. Aced it the second test. I should imagine driving in Brum is not a lot of fun

 

[mw0njm.]

i never had any lessons i learned to drive at about 14 on a dumper, that was always parked up on the clag heap by the old neachells power station.

 

[John L]

I like Morturn, had my first lesson with XL. I must have impressed the instructor (or not), because on my second lesson, he picked me up in Slade Road and told me to continue driving down the road. As we passed Slade Road School, I asked him if he wanted me to turn left or right before we got to Salford roundabout (Spaghetti), to my surprise he told me to carry straight on. After negotiating that tricky looking roundabout, I decided that this driving game couldn't be quite be as difficult, as I had been led to believe.

 

[oldMohawk]

I learned to drive in 1964 at a driving school in Wretham Road just off Soho Hill. They used Hillman Imps and all my learner-driving was around the Hockley and Perry Barr areas. I remember the first drive in the car when I changed down a gear as I started on to a hill and the instructor asked why I had done that, I told him that the engine would labour if I didn't change down and he replied that he was about to tell me to change gear and to wait for instructions in future ...

I reported for my driving test one late afternoon at the test centre on the Broadway Perry Barr. Much of the test was spent stopping and starting in traffic jams around Witton. I passed first time but as the examiner handed me the pink pass-slip he told me in future not to wave pedestrians across In front of the car when traffic was stationary in both directions.

 

[cookie273uk]

I learnt to drive when I started work for PO Telephones (now BT) in 1956 after leaving the RAF, they had their own driving instructor and test examiner, I learnt in a Morris Z type van (later replaced by the Morris Minor van) the vehicle I would later be using as a telephone engineer. Eric

 

[oldbrit]

I tried to drive my Dad's Rover in Yardley Brum in 1956 but never could do it. Then in 1957 age 23 I left for the USA and passed my driving test first time in Wallingford Connecticut USA

 

[Richard Dye]

My first driving lesson was on a Fordson Major tractor on my aunts farm. Started on petrol the switched over to TVO. My cousin who was 7 years older was my instructor. He had a Velocette Venom motor bike which I really loved. I would drive the tractor everyday and loved ploughing, mowing etc. I had a motor bike, BSA, Greeves & Triumph. My first car was a 1929 Austin Seven. My parents did not drive so I took lessons at the British School of Motoring on Soho Rd just down toward Hockley from the Hamstead Rd split. I had six lessons in about 1960 and usually went on Sunday. Just before my road test which was in Perry Barr they took me into the city on a Saturday around mid day which turned out to be a great move on their part, passed first time.

 

[rosielab]

I took my test on the 1st April 1989 an hour after I went to my mother-in-laws funeral and yes I did pass my test

 

[mw0njm.]

I learnt to drive when I started work for PO Telephones (now BT) in 1956 after leaving the RAF, they had their own driving instructor and test examiner, I learnt in a Morris Z type van (later replaced by the Morris Minor van) the vehicle I would later be using as a telephone engineer. Eric

loverly van the z i had one give me, for when i was old enough to go legally on the rd, i only drove it around snowhill underground car park, i was doing it up,but some one knicked it. grrrrrrrrrr.

 

[johnny082]

Hope this wont be boring but raise a laugh. In 1956, I had very little money and I bought a 1932 Morris minor or £7.10s. I stripped the engine completely and rebuilt it, adjusted all the brakes etc and painted it black. My cousin taught me to drive and when he and my foreman at work thought i was ready, applied for a driving test. It was at Kingsbury Road. My foreman came with me and waited with about eight others for 2pm test. Dead on two the door opened and out 'marched' eight testers all with clip boards under their arms. In the middle of them one stood out above all the others. I'm sure he had been an army officer before as his body was perfectly straight and he had a very large handle bar moustache, waxed to a point. Both I and my foreman said together, "I hope I don't get him". Sure enough I did. I was standing proudly before my 1936 Morris Minor when he called my name. He said " Which is your car" And when I said this, I knew from his reaction I had failed before I started. We had not gone above 100 yards before he slapped his clip board indicating he wanted an emergency stop. He looked at me and said, " Is that the best you can do?" What answer was I supposed to give. He said, we will try again later. He took me down towards Salford bridge, and almost there when he slapped his board again. I braked as hard as I could and a lorry nearly came into the back of me. He turned to me, and opening his door got out saying "I will tell your co-driver where you are and will report this car to the vehicle examiners" And off he went to walk back to the test centre at least 1/2 a mile away. When the foreman reached me he thought I had had a crash or something. No one could believe it as even my cousin had driven the car and thought how good it was.
A week later the vehicle examiner came to test the car, getting me to drive it and putting some instrument on the dashboard. We did various things including emergency stops. On returning home he said that the car was in perfect order and asked who had reported it. When i told him he was furious, saying that they had had several cars reported to them by the same examiner in the last few weeks. He was then going to report him. He did say that my car was in fact far better than many of the newer cars he had tested.
I did pass my test, in the same car on the third time.

 

[John L]

My mother's first driving lesson was given to her by my Dad in our old Bedford van, at Fradley Airfield (with me, an amused schoolboy spectator, sitting in the space between the driver and passenger seats). Mom was far from confident, on taking the steering wheel for the very first time, but my Dad said that she couldn't go wrong, as the runway was wide enough to land bombers in WW2. He told her to drive straight to the end of the runway, Mom went straight for about 5 yards and then right, right and yet further right, towards the edge of the runway and a drainage ditch (despite my Dad's pleas for her to turn the wheel to the left). The brake was applied by me, much to both of their relief. That was the only lesson that my Dad ever gave my Mom!

 

[mikejee]

Not sure if I have mentioned this on this forum before, but towards the end of my time at school, one of my friends , who was the son of a master there, went to take his test in his father's old pre-war open top tourer. The examiner went to open the door and the door fell off . Needless to say he did not take his test that dsy.

 

[Richard Dye]

Hope this wont be boring but raise a laugh. In 1956, I had very little money and I bought a 1932 Morris minor or £7.10s. I stripped the engine completely and rebuilt it, adjusted all the brakes etc and painted it black. My cousin taught me to drive and when he and my foreman at work thought i was ready, applied for a driving test. It was at Kingsbury Road. My foreman came with me and waited with about eight others for 2pm test. Dead on two the door opened and out 'marched' eight testers all with clip boards under their arms. In the middle of them one stood out above all the others. I'm sure he had been an army officer before as his body was perfectly straight and he had a very large handle bar moustache, waxed to a point. Both I and my foreman said together, "I hope I don't get him". Sure enough I did. I was standing proudly before my 1936 Morris Minor when he called my name. He said " Which is your car" And when I said this, I knew from his reaction I had failed before I started. We had not gone above 100 yards before he slapped his clip board indicating he wanted an emergency stop. He looked at me and said, " Is that the best you can do?" What answer was I supposed to give. He said, we will try again later. He took me down towards Salford bridge, and almost there when he slapped his board again. I braked as hard as I could and a lorry nearly came into the back of me. He turned to me, and opening his door got out saying "I will tell your co-driver where you are and will report this car to the vehicle examiners" And off he went to walk back to the test centre at least 1/2 a mile away. When the foreman reached me he thought I had had a crash or something. No one could believe it as even my cousin had driven the car and thought how good it was.
A week later the vehicle examiner came to test the car, getting me to drive it and putting some instrument on the dashboard. We did various things including emergency stops. On returning home he said that the car was in perfect order and asked who had reported it. When i told him he was furious, saying that they had had several cars reported to them by the same examiner in the last few weeks. He was then going to report him. He did say that my car was in fact far better than many of the newer cars he had tested.
I did pass my test, in the same car on the third time.

One of the reasons I took lessons with the BSM is that I got to use one of their cars for the test instead of my Austin 7!
congratulations!

 

[devonjim]

My formal lessons were with BSM from John Bright Street, a Ford Consul, three speed column change, the informal ones were in the local Scribbans bread van, a "J" series Morris around 1957-58, which had an upturned wooden box for the passenger. Passed first time at Yardley Wood July "59.( in the Consul).

 

[Richard Dye]

My formal lessons were with BSM from John Bright Street, a Ford Consul, three speed column change, the informal ones were in the local Scribbans bread van, a "J" series Morris around 1957-58, which had an upturned wooden box for the passenger. Passed first time at Yardley Wood July "59.( in the Consul).

I had a friend who had a Doormobile about the same vintage only he used a milk crate for the passenger!

 

[oldMohawk]

Before I decided to use a Driving School, my Dad decided to teach me in his Bedford Dormobile van which had a steering column gear change. Driving along rather nervously with continuous instructions from Dad, I changed gear and the gear stick came away in my hand. I managed to stop but could not get into neutral so with a jump the engine stalled. I got out and walked off ... it had to be a Driving School after that ...

 

[pjmburns]

The first time I "drove" a car was my Dad's Morris Minor on Blackrock Sands. I don't think my Mother sitting in the back shouting instructions helpd - she was a non-driver.
Dad did attempt to teach me but after I stopped the car and got out he abandoned the attempt. I later had "proper" lessons in a Triumph (Toledo I think) and passed first time.

 

[Brummie a long time ago]

I learnt to drive while I was a student and went to a driving school in Malvern, (so hill starts were a strong point). Several of the students used the same instructor, he was a bit of a ‘lad’ and got on well with us. The school car was a mini, easy enough to drive.
At test time, I got about 100 yards down hill from the test centre, and somebody pulled out in front of me from a line of parked cars on the other side of the road. Emergency stop completed and ticked off.
Later on, Julie went for lessons at the same school/instructor. After 2 lessons she changed school because he got too ‘familiar’ with her. Only I was allowed that privilege. Went to a school with a female instructor, driving a Hillman Imp, and all went well.
It was difficult for me (and several mates), to sit on my/our hands and let that pass over. She handled it well in her own way. However, if she had got to 3 lessons and he had still tried it on, A and E might have been involved.
Andrew.

 

[izzy eckerslike]

My dad taught me to drive in the 1960's, he had never taken a test himself as he learned to drive in the RAF so taught me all his bad habit's Taking my first test I must have failed in the first few minutes by using the gears as brakes. Then he did the emergency stop which I did, then he said you won't be asked to do that again and once I had set off he slammed his hand down again and I skidded to a stop.
I then booked a few lessons and straight away the instructor could see why I failed by using the gears to slow the car. I then had to learn to slow the car using the brakes and then shift into 3rd, than brake some more to go into 2nd and then stop. I passed my test on the next attempt at Quinton and then continued to use the gears as brakes for years why not? saves wear on the brake shoes.

 

[Richard Dye]

My dad taught me to drive in the 1960's, he had never taken a test himself as he learned to drive in the RAF so taught me all his bad habit's Taking my first test I must have failed in the first few minutes by using the gears as brakes. Then he did the emergency stop which I did, then he said you wont be asked to do that again and once I had set of he slammed his hand down again and I skidded to a stop.
I then booked a few lessons and straight away the instructor could see why I failed by using the gears to slow the car. I then had to learn to slow the car using the brakes and then shift into 3rd, than brake some more to go into 2nd and then stop. I passed my test on the next attempt at Quinton and then continued to use the gears as brakes for years why not? saves wear on the brake shoes.

Izzy, I always use the gears to slow down when driving a manual shift. In very wet weather I always touch the brakes to make sure they are clear of water. And it does save brake wear!

 

[Banjo]

I remember taking my test to drive a bus. Amongst the many questions I was asked, the examiner asked me which vehicles were not allowed on a motorway. In my nervousness, one of the vehicles I said was articulated vehicles but in my mind I had said agricultural vehicles. It was only when he asked if I was really sure of that answer, my mind connected with my mouth and I said the right word. I did pass.

 

[Morturn]

Izzy, I always use the gears to slow down when driving a manual shift. In very wet weather I always touch the brakes to make sure they are clear of water. And it does save brake wear!

I think a lot of people were taught to use the gears to slow down, I was. I soon realised that clutches are expensive and hard work to change, brake pads were cheap and quite straightforward.