"L" Driver - And So It Begins Again!

It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I was going out giving Joshua driving lessons and here we are in 2026 starting all over again with Brandon. We are teaching him in Tina's Ecosport as the Fiesta that Joshua learned in has since been transferred to his ownership. Taking Joshua out ourselves and giving him real world driving scenarios rather than predetermined lessons seemed to work very well. The proof was the fact that he passed first time and only had 2 actual driving lessons just before test day, thus saving us and him a whole lot of money.

So the pressure is on me as a driving instructor and Brandon as a student to try and replicate how it went with Joshua. After just 3 lessons he has started really well and already has pretty good clutch control and doesn't stall (too often!). We have covered forward and reverse parking, emergency stop, road positioning, navigating small round-a-bouts and changing up and down from 1st to 4th gear and back. Only one minor incident so far where he went back a little too far in a parking space and brushed some bushes with the back of Tina's car (oops).

Brandon seems very keen to do the physical driving stuff with me, but Josh set him up with an App he used for the theory work which Brandon has hardly touched to date. So he will need to pull his thumb out and get that done as without a theory test pass we cannot even book his physical driving test. I wonder whether Brandon has also set up a little competition with his girlfriend Maia to see who passes first. She has a month or two head start on him as her 17th was in 2025.

Brandon suddenly has new found respect for the Clarkson, Hammond and May after realising driving is a lot harder than he thought.

He seems enthusiastic and keen to go out driving at any opportunity though.

He is learning in Tina's Ecosport. This was his first attempt at a reverse parking over at Robert Frew doctors carpark. Magnetic L plates back in play.