1st Class Training is the Driving Instructor Training operation of the 1st Class Driving group who run driving schools under the names of 1st Class, Inter-County, Lanes, and a number of other local independents throughout the London and South England areas.

The role of 1st Class Training is to take on & train driving instructors to a high standard in order to work as part of the Group under franchise, or as independents. We are one of only a few DSA ORDIT registered Driving Schools in the South who are approved by the Department of Transport Driving Standards Agency to train Driving Instructors, with offices in London (Sutton and Greenford).

The Industry

There is a constant need for good quality, enthusiastic Driving Instructors in our industry, which is fortunate to have an ever increasing number of 17 yr. olds who need to be professionally trained. The Driving Test is becoming tougher, with recent changes that made it longer and the prospect of Driver retesting coming closer as the scheme is implemented throughout Europe

The Job

Independence, freedom, security & the flexibility to work when you want to work are all characteristics of the job of a driving instructor. You work from home, in your own local area and are accountable only to your pupils.

Sounds ideal! And is for those that want to reduce stress, get out of the rat race and want the freedom to work for themselves. No more will you be accountable to others and under pressure to do things you don’t agree with.

The job brings with it the professional qualification of “Approved Driving Instructor” - a qualification that is yours for life (subject to periodic check tests) and is your passport to being able to continue earning a good income throughout your life.

Key features:

• You choose the hours and times you work so you can quickly adjust your income by making more (or less) hours available to work.
• You choose the days you work. So if you already have a good weekday job you can earn another income by teaching evenings or weekends.
• The job is respectable, clean and comfortable - you start work from your doorstep in the warmth and comfort of your car. No travelling, no working in the cold and rain, no hard labour.
• The work is enjoyable - the pleasure of meeting people from a variety of different backgrounds and teaching them to pass their driving test can be immense and makes your effort really worthwhile. Pupils rarely forget their driving instructor and indeed a lot of your future business will come from pupils recommending you onto their friends and family.
• There is no age limit (apart from having to have held a full UK licence for 4 years) many trainees train so they can take early retirement and continue earning a reasonable income.

In summary, by taking up a career as a Driving Instructor you have the opportunity to change your entire lifestyle from one where you work to live to one where you can start enjoying work as part of your life.

The Income

Income can be good - whichever route you choose we have instructors who range from part time to others who are earning over £1,000 per week.

There are three ways of working -

• As an Independent where you do all the advertising, reception and run your own car.
• Under a fixed franchise - where we do the advertising and provide you with the pupils and reception service. You supply the car and pay us a fixed weekly franchise fee.
• Under a “share scheme” - where we supply the car, pupils, reception service (secretary to look after you and your diary). We charge on the basis of the number of lessons you do - so this minimises any risk to you.

As one of the largest Driving schools in the area we run both fixed and variable franchise schemes and also have considerable expertise in helping instructors to set up their own independent business. So whether you wish to work under a company or as an independent we can help with either.

The Training course

Don’t think that the training is complex or hard, it’s not. You can already drive and hopefully you haven’t developed too many bad habits. So you already know what you have to teach your pupils - our job is simply to build on your existing knowledge & skills to structure the lessons professionally and to help you with the technicalities of teaching.

Our training course has four elements;

Theory (part 1) - A home study course structured so that you can complete most of it in your spare time at home with visits to our office for progress checks and to complete test exams.

Driving (part 2) - A practical driving course to develop your own driving to the professional level required for the Advanced DSA Instructor Driving test.

Teaching (part 3) - A comprehensive classroom, study and practical course to train you in the art of teaching others to drive and to introduce you to the real job of running a successful diary.

Working - where you join the Group and start teaching pupils. Your training continues throughout this period as a series of weekly training sessions that focus on developing a profitable diary and preparing you for each of the teaching tests. 

The training can be done as a Fastrack course, where we aim to have you working within 10 - 13 weeks, or to fit around your job, whichever is best for you.

One of the key features of training with 1st Class is that as soon as you have completed the second Driving Exam you can start work under a “Trainee Licence”, and this can be as quickly as within 10 weeks of starting the course.

This is where your choice of training with 1st Class starts paying real dividends. With over 100 instructors working within the group we already have established advertising in place to attract a consistent stream of new pupils, which is the foundation stone to developing a successful diary.

The advertising for 2007 covers all 10 Yellow Pages areas & 30 Thompson Local areas in London & South England.

The procedure for starting as a Driving Instructor is simple and convenient. Having identified the area to work and the lesson times available, we then open a diary for booking your pupils two to three weeks before your start-up to ensure that there is a good base of bookings during the early stages.

No other DSA recommended training establishment in the London area offers the level of formal and practical training combined with the practical help & ease to start work in the low risk environment of our “share” scheme.

Costs

There are two routes to become an Approved Driving instructor

Both require you to study & pass the Part 1 theory exam and then develop your Driving skills to the standard required to pass the Part 2 Driving Test

Having passed your Part 2 Driving Test -
1) You are entitled to take out a “Trainee Licence” - This will enable you to start teaching and earning money. However you must be sponsored by an organisation such as ourselves. BUT the rules are that you must have a minimum of 40 hours of Part 3 training before you can get that licence AND you must have completed a further 20 hours of additional training after receiving the licence and taking your Part 3 Teaching test. This means that you must have (and pay for) a minimum of 60 hours training.
2) You can continue on training for you Part 3 Teaching test and you can take that test whenever you feel able (No minimum)

Our advice is that if you want to start work quickly (using the “Trainee Licence”) and can afford the full course cost then go this route.

If you don’t want (or need) to start quickly or would find difficulty to raise the money (or just not want to) then there is no reason why you should not start off the part 3 training on a pay as you go basis. You (and your Trainer) can then decide when you take your test.

The minimum training that we would suggest is to attend all 10 classroom sessions and have at least 10 hours in car practice. This is not the easiest route, unless you have had experience of teaching, but it can be (and has been) done - but it can save you a lot of money!

So we structure our charges as:

Total Costs £2250 Discounts when you paid up front £100.00 Pay as you go Part 1= £100 deposit for the study materials and advise as needed. Part 2= £35 per hour Part 3= £35 per hour

                                 (All fees include use of our car (and petrol) for the training.)

If you think about it £2,250 for 75 hours of training - means that you are only paying some £30 per hour for the training.

However,for those that are keen to train quickly and work within the 1st Class group we are able to offer (subject to interview) a number of payment schemes to help spread the training cost over a period that can enable a proportion of the fees to be paid from income.

1st Class has a reputation for quality in the Driving School market, developed over many years and proven by over 30% of all new pupils being recommended to us. We compete successfully against BSM & the AA on the grounds of superior service and quality. It is therefore vital to us that every trainee staring work with us is trained to the highest standard.

Interested?

Ring our Training officers on 0800 197 3010 to discuss your particular situation in more detail and arrange an interview.