A2B Driving School

24/05/2026

Join our Bristol Driving School now!

Qualified ADI Driving Instructors needed, both Manual and Manual qualified Automatic instructors.

https://a2bdrivingschool.com/careers

24/05/2026

Congratulations Samuel on passing your manual driving test with Zero minor faults at the Avonmouth Driving Test Centre.

Your driving instructor Chris and all our team at A2B Driving School, wish you a lifetime of safe driving.

24/05/2026

Congratulations Samuel on passing your manual driving test first time.

All our team at A2B Driving School and your driving instructor Chris wish you a lifetime of safe.

24/05/2026

Congratulations Stephen on passing your driving test first time at Avonmouth test centre with only 2 minor faults, while utilising a last minute driving test and your own car.

01/05/2026

🌟Illegal Driving Schools and Instructors.🌟

If you’ve taken driving lessons before, you may have come across a driving instructor who doesn’t seem like the real deal. The media can often portray instructors in a negative light, showing how some can be “scheming” and take advantage of their customers. However, sometimes the situation can be more serious than this, as some driving instructors may even be teaching people to drive without being properly registered or approved. This can be very dangerous, so we wanted to give you a heads-up on what to look out for when it comes to illegal driving instructors.

Avoid Fake Driving Instructors.
Section 123 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 prohibits drivers from receiving monetary payments for offering driving instructor services, unless they have passed the Driving Standards Agency (DVSA) three-part instructor’s test. When they are legally able to teach, a driving instructor will have a licence to do so, granting them legal permission to be paid to teach others how to drive.

⭐️All licensed driving instructors have to, by law, DISPLAY an appropriate licence clearly in the front windscreen of their car (or your car if you are using it) whilst they are providing paid tuition. If they do not have this clearly displayed, then you have reason to question whether they are a fake driving instructor, and if they are qualified to teach you.⭐️

Driving Instructor Licences.
The licence will be one of the following two:
A pink licence that has a triangle on it. This shows that the driving instructor is a trainee.
A green licence that has an octagon on it. This shows that the instructor is fully qualified.

Whether it is green or pink, each will show a valid date and a unique driving instructor number, along with a photograph of the instructor on the other side of the licence.

⭐️A professional instructor should always have their licence on show.⭐️

There can even be a fine, up to £1000, for anyone who does not have it on display for their pupils to see.

Always ensure that you have taken a look at their licence. A friendly face, dual controls, and a roof sign may make someone look professional, but this certainly isn’t always the case.

Dangers of An Illegal Driving Instructor.
Driving instructors and all other national instructors must undergo driving instructor CRB checks, known formally as Disclosure and Barring Service checks, before they are legally allowed to teach learners. These are checks that are carried out to identify if someone has any criminal convictions, cautions, or other history that might make them unsuitable or unsafe to teach others, including children and vulnerable adults.

Driving instructors have an enhanced CRB check carried out regularly, and the DVSA uses them to prevent people who flag up on them from either receiving a PDI licence or joining the ADI register. This prevents you from getting into a car with someone who is deemed “unsuitable” to teach. If you are taking driving lessons with an illegal driving instructor, these checks would not have been made, which may possibly put your safety at risk.

Furthermore, if you are learning to drive with an illegal instructor, you do not know where they have learnt to be an instructor.

Both PDI and ADI instructors have to go through long, intensive training before they can teach, from thoroughly vetted trainers, and they are assessed at each step of the way to ensure that their tuition is up to standard.

An illegal instructor may not have done any training. They may not be teaching you safe or modern driving methods, and as such, the likelihood of you passing your driving test when you are evaluated is minimal.

⭐️They may also not be holding suitable instructor’s insurance.⭐️

We always follow the saying that “you get what you pay for”. Very cheap driving lessons may indicate a sign of illegal driving instruction, so be very careful when choosing an instructor. Whatever amount you are paying for your lessons, you want to know it is not going down the drain, and that you are receiving quality tuition. Always ensure you are in safe hands.

Ensure You Receive Quality Driving Tuition

At A2B Driving School, we take great pride in our modern and proven professional tuition.

Our driving instructors are all qualified to teach and have receiving either a grade A or B.

We once had a pupil who came to us for driving lessons in Central Bristol after having a bad experience with an illegal instructor working for a local driving school.

The “instructor and driving school” had a reliable-looking website, roof sign advertising their school, and seemed friendly, which led the pupil to believe that they were the real deal.

After paying for almost ten lessons and noticing no progress at all, they started to become suspicious as the instructor seemed to have almost no idea what they were doing, were themselves observed driving dangerously and not keeping them safe during lessons, no knowledge of manoeuvres or even the UK driving test.

The pupil asked to see their driving instructor licence as it was not on display in their car window, which they were unable to show them, so they reported them.

They then came to us, and the instructor we paired them with helped them learn more in one lesson than they had in ten!

What To Do If You Suspect Someone Is An Illegal Driving Instructor;

If you suspect that someone may be working as a driving instructor illegally, it is very important that they are reported as soon as possible because they pose a serious risk to you and to others on the road.

The first step is to gather as much information as possible about them. If possible, note down the following:

-Their name
-Contact information
-Vehicle registration number
-The area they are working in
-Any proof that they are charging people for driving lessons

Keep any messages you have received from them, or screenshots of any ads or posts you see advertising their lessons online.

Do not confront them yourself. It is much more effective and safer to go to the relevant authorities.

How To Report An Illegal Driving Instructor;

In the UK, you can report an illegal driving instructor or driving school to the DVSA online or by contacting their fraud and integrity team at;

[email protected]
0800 030 4103.

Also report to the Police as this issue is serious Fraud.

They will then investigate the instructor and and driving school to confirm whether they are properly licensed.m and operating legally.

Once reported, if the instructor or driving school is found to be operating illegally, they will face the proper penalties, including fines, bans, or prosecution.

They will also be stopped from carrying out lessons illegally and prevented from misleading other learners.

Driving Schools involved could receive much more serious prosecution.

Illegal driving instructors are more common than you might think.

⭐️After 15 years of providing award winning driving lessons, even we were shocked to see a recent incident.

On 9th October 2025, an instructor was pulled over in Bletchley for giving lessons without the proper qualifications. The pupil had no idea they’d been paying someone who wasn’t licensed to teach.⭐️

Final Thoughts On Protecting Learners From Illegal Driving Instructors
Every learner driver should be able to have trust in their driving instructor’s ability to safely and expertly teach them, without being ripped off.

Illegal driving instruction is not a victimless crime – they exploit learners and receive payment for teaching skills they have not learnt.

If you suspect someone of being an illegal driving instructor, it is important to report them and keep the roads safer for everyone.

29/04/2026

Dry Steering ‘A Growing Dangerous Problem’.

Dry Steering: Why It’s More Than Just a Test Loophole and sign of very unprofessional driving instruction.

Is your driving instructor teaching to ‘dry steer’?

If they are, they are likely teaching you other dangerous, bad driving habits. You should consider changing instructor!

As driving instructors, we often hear the phrase “It’s not a fault on the test — so what’s the problem?”

Dry steering — turning the wheel while the car is stationary — falls neatly into that category. It’s not penalised on the driving test, and for manoeuvres like bay parking or turns in the road, it might even help a pupil achieve a better angle easily although dangerously!

But here’s the question:

Are we helping you to learn to drive — or just learn to pass?

We now discuss why dry steering should be used with extreme caution, even though it’s not technically incorrect. Because when you are taught to skip fundamental skills, a seed is being planted for future problems — both in terms of vehicle wear, safety and driving confidence.

1. Dry Steering Bypasses Coordination Skills

At the heart of good driver training is building coordination: the ability to move the car and steer at the same time. This is a foundational skill that separates confident, adaptable drivers from hesitant, robotic ones.

Dry steering breaks this link.

Instead of learning to manage speed and steering together, the pupil stops, turns the wheel, then moves — forming a disconnected habit loop.

The result? Learners who:

* Struggle with tight angles unless they have time to stop and think
* Develop clunky, mechanical manoeuvres
* Lose the feel for how much steering input to apply in motion
Your instructor should know that in real-world driving, the ability to adapt your steering while the vehicle is moving, is critical — and dry steering doesn’t teach that.

2. It Undermines Reverse Manoeuvre Understanding

One of the most common struggles for learners is knowing which way to turn the wheel when reversing.

When they move forward, most learners quickly develop an instinct for steering direction. But reversing often throws them — especially in bay parks and tight spaces.

Here’s what we see:

* They begin looking at the steering wheel to work out direction
* They try to ‘calculate’ the turn visually rather than feeling it
* They fall for the “false straight” — where the steering wheel looks centred but isn’t, due to previous rotations
Dry steering makes this worse.

When the car is stationary, the learner has no feedback from vehicle movement to help them understand which way it’s turning. It’s purely abstract. And for many learners, abstraction = confusion.

On the other hand, moving while steering helps learners build a physical intuition about how steering inputs affect car direction — forwards and in reverse.

That’s a skill that stays with them far beyond the test.

3. Most Learners Drive Older Cars After They Pass

Here’s something often overlooked by your instructor in their nearly-new tuition cars:

Most learners buy old, budget vehicles after they pass.

These cars might have:

* Weak or worn-out power steering
* Poor wheel alignment
* Balding tyres
* Worn suspension components
In those vehicles, dry steering places greater stress on already fragile systems. It can cause:

* Premature tyre wear (especially at the edges)
* Steering rack and tie rod damage
* Extra heat in electric power steering motors
* Noisy or clunky steering performance
What seems harmless in your dual-control Fiesta could be the tipping point for mechanical failure in their 15-year-old Vauxhall Corsa.

So when your instructor says,

“It’s fine — you won’t get a fault for it,”

They are ignoring the real-world consequences learners will face months later.

Your instructor Should Teach for Life, Not Just for the Mark Sheet

It’s tempting to use dry steering as a shortcut. It works. It avoids hassle. It helps them “get it in the bay.”

But as professionals, your instructor has a bigger responsibility.

They don’t just prepare people to pass a test — they should prepare you to drive safely, confidently, and mechanically sympathetically for the rest of your life.

Dry steering may not be penalised on the test. But it’s:

* Bad for habit formation
* Bad for mechanical sympathy

* Bad for learning how a car behaves

* Potentially dangerous
That’s enough reason to phase it out of their teaching, or at the very least, reserve it for only those situations where no other option exists.

Final Thought

Teaching someone to drive is like teaching them a language. You can learn to repeat phrases — or you can learn to speak fluently.

Dry steering may get the phrase right. But it’s not fluent driving!

Your driving instructor should keep their focus on the bigger picture — building drivers who don’t just pass the test, but master the road to be safe drivers for life!

29/04/2026

With Intelligent Instructor – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

19/04/2026

Congratulations to our chief Driving Instructor Chris for his recent ‘Driving instructor of the Year 2026’ south west Silver award.

Again the top driving instructor in Bristol. Well done Chris 🌟👋

05/04/2026