Instructor demands tighter checks on driving schools

An instructor is calling for more thorough and consistent checks of driving schools.

Wayne Stokes, the owner of Roadcraft Driving School, said instructors should be "regulated for parent's sake" so they can "trust" their children are in safe hands while learning to drive.

The States has previously expressed interest in introducing a mandatory register of driving instructors.

Colin Le Page, traffic and highway services manager, said they remained committed to bringing in the register "so those who are learning to drive can have confidence they are learning with an officially registered instructor".

Le Page added: "We will continue to move this forward to ensure the necessary measures are in place, while also avoiding this becoming an administrative burden for instructors."

At the moment, the job is not regulated but any instructors who want to be able to put forward candidates for a practical driving test have to successfully complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

A list of instructors who have successfully completed their DBS is kept on the States of Guernsey website.

Stokes said he would like to see more safeguarding measures including "stronger checks" but is still urging islanders to look at the list of checked instructors before booking lessons.

"If you go on gov.gg and check on driving schools, there is a registration there of all driving schools and their names and if you go on there and they're not there obviously be careful," he said.

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