I have loved driving since the first day I got behind the wheel at the age of 17 years. I still remember arguing with my instructor on my first lesson, who insisted I had driven before. I completed junctions hill starts, traffic lights and roundabouts on that day. Driving just came naturally to me. I now have a wealth of driving experience, from driving many miles up and down the country and abroad, professionally as a delivery driver and when 17 – 20 years of age racing various motor cars on different racing circuits around the South East of the country. I had a couple of jobs after leaving college with a BTEC Diploma in Engineering, then had my three children, so stopped working for a few years. As my children got older, they started at a gymnastics club, where I trained to be a coach. I stayed with Easton Gymnastics Club for 15 years, was one of the head coaches and the child welfare officer. I also ran my own club and delivered gymnastics in schools during term time and after school clubs. At this time, I decided to go back to college where I obtained a BTEC Higher National Diploma in Leisure Management. Which gave me an insight in all aspects of management and increased my coaching skills to a higher level. Shortly after this, I had a fall and injured my wrist, so had to give up my beloved profession.
This is when I became a delivery driver, though I enjoyed the job as I was out and about driving around and meeting people, there was something missing. Helping others learn. This together with my eldest daughter having a road traffic collision and writing off her car, I decided I wanted to help people gain a good, safe knowledge of driving and trained to be an instructor, gaining my ADI licence in October 2014. I didn’t start working straight away, due to my working hours. Once I reduced them, I set up my own driving school in April 2015. This has been the best journey I could ask for; I absolutely love being a driving instructor and continue to increase my knowledge to give the best education to my learners as I possibly can. I have done many continued professional development courses including the BTEC 4 Professional Award in Coaching for Driver Education, delivered by Tri-Coaching Partnership. Probably one of the most eye-opening courses I have had the pleasure of taking. Having already used coaching techniques for some years, this made me look at what I was doing and improve the way I worked.
I occasionally deliver drink-driving rehabilitation courses, driving assessments for young drivers for their insurance company and fleet training for companies such as Ocado. I now also work for East Anglian Driveability assessing elderly and disabled drivers to ensure they are still safe to drive on our roads. To do this, I work with an Occupational Therapist, looking at cognitive skills, medications, strength and eye-sight of each client, before taking them on the road for their driving assessment.
I have also taken the Train the Trainer course with Tri-coaching enabling me to deliver driving instructor training in the best way possible. I am now looking to expand my driving school in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and surrounding areas.