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Tina Rickman - Approved Driving Instructor, Lingfield, Surrey (2026)

05/21/2026

👏 Big celebrations for our camera-hating Syd who passed her test on Tuesday at Redhill, and on her very first attempt!!
Rightly so, Syd was exceptionally proud of herself 🥰

📚✏️ Having found school life really hard and education particularly tricky to access at her school, Syd really did not enjoy her time trying to learn in that environment. So, despite being really excited when she found out about her surprise lesson on the same morning as her 17th birthday, the idea of driving lessons and ‘learning’ with a relative stranger, was still quite a daunting prospect.

Luckily, we hit it off straight away and it didn’t take long at all for Syd to feel comfortable with me teaching her and us both putting the world to rights.

Getting to the safe standard of driving that is required for ‘beyond test day’, has taken a little while to come around (and that is absolutely fine). We’ve had to really focus on ‘focussing’ and not allowing distractions to get in the way of progressing her driving skills.

Syd couldn’t help it.

Her lapses in concentration just mean she has to work EVEN harder than those who can more easily focus, and that can be mega tiring.
Syd has a very, very busy brain - there really is just so much happening up there, that often she just needs to let it out and talk about it.
Sometimes we had to make a conscious effort to let some of it escape before even turning on the engine.
Again, that is fine.
And we became mindful together, that as soon as the next ‘thought’ started to find its way to the surface, the driving discipline was going to slip - that usually meant unnecessarily slowing or speeding up, but could also mean a delay in anticipating a potential hazard. A quick reminder from me and an outward breath from Syd, could usually nip it in the bud until a more appropriate time.

With huge amounts of effort, practise and patience, these phases of good driving-focus, became longer and longer, with less distractions in-between. Syd is now a super driver through her own sheer determination to FINALLY get that licence and be able to get herself wherever she wants or needs, whenever she wants or needs. 💪

🚗 🎶 So, not only are we all super proud of Syd for her fantastic driving test pass this week, but also for being accepted at uni despite not completing school.
Her self-taught talent for music playing, music writing and music production is that exceptional, that she can now progress her love of the art with an official qualification at uni AND also get herself there and back in her little car once she finds the one that’ll do the job well.

🚙 Meanwhile, I’m hoping the car search is going well - and the desire for a motorbike might have dwindled a tad (or more) 😬.

Congratulations again and I so can’t wait for all the updates.

05/14/2026

👏👏 Huge congratulations to Maisy for passing her driving test Tuesday, in Sevenoaks, on her very first attempt and with just a few random faults.

💪 Maisy has worked hard since day one - some things came relatively easy for her to master, whilst some other areas needed various strategies and repetition to help Maisy truly understand the concepts, and then conquer the skill. But not once did Maisy complain or get frustrated - she practised and practised her little socks off, both in our lessons and also in her own car (when it wasn’t being poorly in the garage).

And now that Maisy has achieved this fantastic goal of hers, she is able to drive herself to and from school (and work) every day, not to mention the many lifts she can also give to her brother from now on 😬 😊.

🎉 Congratulations again, Maisy.
You so deserved your fabulous result this week. And mum and dad can finally have a rest from all that practise 🚗🚙👏.

05/12/2026

As of today, only learner drivers can book their own tests, and then swap their test with another learner driver if necessary.

Please be aware of the strict guidance below, and make sure your instructor is available for your test date once you are test ready.

04/27/2026

👏👏Huge congratulations to Freya for passing her test at Sevenoaks today, on her very first attempt with just a few random driver faults.
The really loud squeal of excitement, when the examiner told her the result, was one of the best reactions ever 😂

😊 Freya originally had her test booked for last September but it was a sudden panic booking that she made the month before, however, there wasn’t enough time to complete her learning.

Very sensibly, Freya agreed to push back her test and give herself more time to complete the syllabus AND become a safe driver 😎🚙

Freya has worked so hard at improving her driving skills - her confidence definitely grew once she could practise more regularly in her little mini but sadly, that car had too many problems and had to be let go.
In spite of the new lack of private practise, Freya then put all her effort and determination into our fortnightly lessons, really working hard to improve in every single session 🚗.

Not only has she now passed her practical test, but also got her new car at the weekend which has been waiting patiently to be driven by its new owner 🚗.
Freya’s brother and sister are going to be chauffeured everywhere and anywhere they choose for quite a while - even if it’s just to the end of the road 😂

This really is going to make such a difference to Freya - not just to save her from an hour and a half’s bus ride to work at the weekends, but also to open up a whole load more opportunities for her future.

Congratulations again, Freya - you massively deserved that great result today.
Happy driving 🚗🚙

03/23/2026

🎉👏 Big, big congrats to Leo on passing his test last Friday at Crawley, with just a few faults!! 💪🏻

🚙 I’m so super proud of Leo - he’s not generally the most outwardly-confident of people, so it was really brave to put himself forward for learning to drive and attempting his practical test round Crawley, with it’s myriad of complex roundabouts, fast-speed dual carriageways and over-confident, poor drivers who often don’t safely negotiate these high-risk roads.

🚗 Leo hasn’t had access to any private practise at all, so he’s done extremely well purely having mostly fortnightly lessons and not being able to have more frequent additional practise that can often be really helpful for a boost of everyday experience and hence a boost in confidence.
Leo has also been paying for his own lessons which is such a huge example of independence and determination too. He really has been working hard - at school, at work and in his driving lessons 💪🏻

👨‍🎓🚙 Our sessions were soooo focussed on teaching and learning and pure concentration, it was often tricky to just ‘chat’ too…and that’s ok. It really is serious stuff, this driving malarkey, and we all learn in different ways, needing individualised training environments.

However, driving back after Leo’s test, was a totally different vibe - we chatted more about everything and anything in that 20 minutes than our months of lessons together 😂😂. Leo could finally relax and really reflect on what an amazing accomplishment he achieved over those months and in- particular, that day!!! 🚙👏

Well done again, Leo.
Happy car shopping and good luck with your fab future ahead of you 🚗🚙

03/03/2026

👏👏 Big congratulations to Alfie on his first attempt pass in Sevenoaks yesterday morning with just a couple of faults and some lovely comments from the examiner 👍

🚙 Apparently he had a great drive on the dual carriageway which began with some thoughtful speed adjustments on the slip road to allow for the lorry that couldn’t move out of lane 1. Alfie then proceeded, a number of times, to safely overtake various other vehicles and return to lane 1 so that he and other road users, could continue to make good, safe progress up to 70mph, rather than, unnecessarily, just sitting behind traffic in lane 1. Great job, Alfie!! 💪🏻

🚗 I really am so pleased for Alfie as I’ve definitely put him through his paces on the build up to his test and he’s worked super hard to process all the teaching and learning we’ve done from day one. Not once has Alfie moaned or complained or even looked [too 😉] panic’d during our lessons, no matter how frustrating or demanding the learning process (and I) may have been at times.

😎 Before and after his test, Alfie commented on how calm he was feeling, which apparently is unusual for him in test situations.
📚 🚘 Practise and knowledge are very powerful - if you don’t have enough of BOTH of these, then you are under-prepared. Your ‘over-’ or ‘un-’ confidence in your ability, plus the lack of knowledge, will affect you becoming a safe driver. If you’re not a safe driver, then you shouldn’t be attempting your test.
💪🏻Alfie was definitely ready for his test and can now move on to the next chapter…..

….Talking of which, it’s also been great timing as his sister, Amy, has just picked up her new car which means Alfie now has his sister’s old car, which will be great for his growing independence getting to and from college, as well as to work which happens to be in the middle of nowhere!! Nice one, team!!👫

🚙 Congratulations again, Alfie - I’m so super proud of you and the great driving you’ve been demonstrating recently.
All the best of luck and continued hard work finishing college this year, and then having the best time travelling afterwards 🚊🚋✈️🌏

02/27/2026

🥳 Belated but the hugest smiley first-attempt-pass congratulations to Eve who passed her driving test on Tuesday, with just a couple of faults 🚗

😃Quiet, shy, timid Eve is forever smiling - no matter how scary (at times😱) or confusing (the other ‘left’!) learning to drive can be, not once did she get annoyed, give up or stop smiling.🚙

🏎️ But don’t let that fool you, Eve is quite fearless in many ways - before she turned 17, Eve was big-time into Go-karting. She didn’t just go with a group of friends for a little bit of entertainment - she went many times, with dad watching from the spectators’ section and her out on the track battling against anyone that dare take her on🏎️.
I really wish I’d witnessed her racetrack skills, but the stories of her whooping the backsides of various other hobbyists including an entire (disgruntled) stag party, help make up for it!! 💪🏻

🛞 Although it took Eve a little while to adapt to the steering, speed and extra pedal needing to be treated with a little more finesse and control than the karts, there was definitely a natural quality to Eve’s driving that helped her on her way to the fab success of this week! That, together with her joy for learning to drive and sheer determination to get better and better, all paid off for her 💪🏻

😊Eve has been a total pleasure to teach - in between reminding her to not get distracted as we travelled by various scenery, houses and people 😱, the hilarious stories of trips to Ireland and other capers, have had me in stitches every lesson 😂.

🍔 Eve - I hope you enjoyed your celebratory McDonalds dinner. I have my fingers crossed for you (and dad) that Mimi finds her way back to you very soon so that you can give dad a rest and start taking yourself to the drive-thru whenever you wish, and then to the airport when your dream job becomes a reality ✈️☀️🕶️.

Congratulations again, Eve. I’m super proud of your effort and how great a driver you now are 🚗🚙

02/05/2026

Changes to the practical driving test booking system from March.
Please only book your test when we’ve discussed when you’ll be safely ready to be on your own, and agreed the test centre.

01/20/2026

👏👏CONGRATULATIONS TO LUKE on passing his driving test yesterday morning at Redhill, with only a small handful of driver faults. 🚙

🥹 Just to start off, I am incredibly proud of Luke for this huge achievement as he has really fought hard to wade through some massive challenges along the way, over the last 3 and a half years. 🚗

Luke feels that he is a slow learner - from school life through to present day, made even harder with having to cope with his Tourette’s movement-tics. These pretty much always present worse when under pressure with nerves or stress and even tiredness, but he was determined to keep going, and learn different strategies with me to work through them. 💪🏻

😩 Learning whilst tic-ing was intense and tiring for Luke and he didn’t really have any coping mechanisms or strategies already, that might have helped him, so we started off with just one-hour lessons, taking very frequent drink breaks to keep the learning in tiny bite-sized chunks. 🚙
🧘 This also then allowed us to start exploring and practising breathing techniques, which Luke didn’t initially find natural to do, so I was constantly in his ear, reminding (nagging) him to ‘breathe out’….and very slowly but surely, we both noticed it was helping to calm him, more frequently than not, which then allowed him to gradually increase the physical driving time with slightly fewer breaks in between. 💪🏻

🙆‍♂️Another strategy or two that Luke took on board, was to give himself more preparation time before a lesson to fully wake up, do some stretching exercises and to eat more substantial food before I collected him. Again, we both really noticed that this helped his concentration, which in-turn helped Luke’s driving skills and hence, eased the tics as he was making less mistakes to get stressed about. And to be honest, a lot of those breakfasts sounded pretty banging !! 🍳🥓

🚙🚗 Over time, Luke managed to increase his lesson sessions to two hours with pretty much continuous driving, lots of singing along to the radio and no (or very few) drink stops - his stamina, focus and all-round driving skills are now outstanding. But our musicality still needs a bit of work !! 🎤🎶🙉

😬 Although Luke was nervous before his test, as soon as he met and started driving with the examiner, his tics and his nerves disappeared - Luke was very lucky to get a fabulous examiner who was great at giving off calming vibes, but he would have smashed his test anyway! 😊

When I dropped Luke back home and we said our last farewell, it was definitely a very strange feeling for both of us as we’d finally reached our ultimate goal after all those months. We’d spent so many lesson hours together over the years, chatting about all sorts, discussing neuro-divergence til the cows came home, talking about our social lives and work and families and not to mention our mutual sarcastic banter that I’m not sure anyone else would appreciate. But I know that Luke is in a fantastic position now to grow further with his independence - he can actually start repaying his dad back for all the lifts and maybe eventually, he’ll be able to start driving his little nephew around wherever he wants to go too 🥰

❤️ We all know your mum would be incredibly proud of you and your huge success yesterday - now you just have to get used to her car and take good care of it 🚗

Well done, Luke - I sincerely wish you all the best with your future and really hope your woodworking sideline takes off big time. 🪵

12/22/2025

👏 Congratulations to Alex on passing his test last Friday at Crawley and on his very first attempt!!

🚙 After a very slow, reluctant start 4 years ago with just two lessons before returning to uni, Alex decided the time was eventually ‘right’ in 2025, to do his theory AND have a practical test booked (before I even had space to fit him back in to my teaching schedule).

🚗 Alex was possibly spurred on by his sister, Maddie, passing her test with me back in June but it was very obvious 4 years ago, that there was no benefit for anyone, to push Alex into driving lessons until he was completely ready.

👍 While waiting for me to have a space, mum did a good job of getting Alex on the road and encouraging him to drive fairly locally and frequently.

When we did our assessment lesson, I was impressed that he was doing as well as he was, but we definitely needed to work on quite a few areas to make him a safe driver eg, consistently using the appropriate mirrors at the right times and making good observations at junctions; controlling his steering better; slowing sooner and not rushing; plus, help him learn and understand the syllabus such as reversing and parking; overtaking at speed and negotiating multi-lane roundabouts, etc etc …… 🤓

🚙 With lots of hard work on lessons, plenty of practise out with mum, and some frustrating moments for Alex where he knew what he had to do but sometimes it just didn’t happen, he achieved a superb result in a very short space of time - just a couple of months!! He is now a much calmer and safer driver 😎

Well done, Alex - I’m so pleased for you…..and even more pleased for mum who can finally throw away the L plates and not have to supervise the driving of any more offspring!! 😅😂 Congrats, team 💪🏻🚙

Tina Rickman - Approved Driving Instructor

05/21/2026

05/14/2026

05/12/2026

04/27/2026

03/23/2026

03/03/2026

02/27/2026

02/05/2026

01/20/2026

12/22/2025

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