Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

As with many trainers we take our jobs seriously and in a competetive marketplace we don't like to be left behind, so we've been updating our Quad Bike Training with the help of some excellent trainers, riders and of course - clients.

We've also spent several days working with advanced drivers and trainers at Protec Training up in Ayrshire, developing their In-House Driver Assessor courses.

And we've also undertaken some Check Test Training with Nigel Dawson of Exclesior - as always, professional, clear and able to make complicated matters simple - thanks Nigel.

Finally, the Off-Road Training - well it's been a busy year and we've got to grips with a variety of vehicles working with some industry and government drivers, whose unique requirements have pushed us almost as much as we've pushed them!

Never stand still, unless of course there's a weather warning for snow, in which case - stay at home and work from the sofa - it's the best way!

4x4 and Quad Bike Training in Essex and Suffolk

We're now providing our Off Road Training and Quad Bike Training in conjunction with an outstanding site in the South East of England.

4x4 and Quad Bike Training Suffolk - Essex - Fully PUWER and H&S compliant Lantra professional training courses from Beyond Driving.

Intensive Driving Courses

We've taken a back seat with our Intensive Driving Courses site recently and have passed the reigns on to a few of our trusted instructors around the UK.

The site is still bringing in lots of enquiries and work for guys across the North of England and Scotland, but we're looking for good instructors to take on courses across the rest of England (especially London and the South East) and Wales, so if you're interested, email:
info@OneWeekDrivingPass.co.uk

Blue Light and Emergency Response Training

We've been working with a few of our colleagues who provide driver training for the emergency services recently, mainly on the 4x4 response side for the NHS HART team in the North West, but we get a lot of enquiries about on-road blue light training.

We've put together some information on these courses at our Blue Light Emergency Response Driver Training page. There is currently a lot of discussion ahead of some forthcoming legislation regarding this training. At the moment, there are no hard and fast rulings on the issue other than the information in the Road Traffic Act, which simply states that emergency response drivers can only use the exemptions if they have had training. As such, all of the services are having to create their own voluntary codes of practice to work to, which has led to a wide variation in standards. We have included information on the DSA's Blue light guidelines, driver assessment criteria from ACPO and some info from the legislature and some training providers.

There are many companies out there who are offering Blue Light training courses for emergency responders which last from 2 days to 3 weeks. We feel that there is no way that a safe and effective blue light course could be delivered in 2 days, and companies using such a short and ineffective course could leave themselves open to prosecution by the HSE in the event of an accident under the HSAW duty of care legislation.

An effective course should bring the driver up to a good advanced driving standard (the RoSPA gold standard should be aimed for) before speed limits are exceeded or exemptions invoked. Once this standard is acheived, we believe that it will take another 5 days of training to fully understand the implications of using blue light exemptions and to be able to use them safely and effectively.

Blue light and emergency response training is not just a case of putting the blues and twos on and flooring it.

ATV and Quad Bike Training

We've recently been receiving lots of calls from companies who need ATV Training for their quad bike operators across the UK, and are happy to say that we are now providing courses for several large companies and organisations.

Most recently we've been working in West Sussex with Natural England, who needed their riders to hold the LANTRA ATV qualification in order to comply with all of the relevant H&S legislation that surrounds the use of quad bikes in a professional environment.

We can provide fully comprehensive courses either in your workplace, as long as you have a suitable site for the courses, or at one of our LANTRA approved venues in England, Scotland or Wales.

4x4 and ATV Training Scotland

We have recently been working with Ken Stewart from Protec Training in Ayrshire. Ken provides many companies with driver and assessor training, as well as blue light training for emergency response drivers across Scotland and the whole of the UK.

While he has been called across to train some of Ireland's fire service in winching techniques, we have been helping out with some of his local work, covering in-house driver assessment training, the LANTRA 4x4 courses he runs in the Muirshiel Regional Park - one of the most impressive venues for an off-road course in the whole of the UK.

One of the few services Ken doesn't offer is ATV Training, which he has been kind enough to pass on to ourselves and we can now provide ATV Training and Quad Bike Training in Scotland.

We're also working with him on one of his trailer training courses later in the month.

Driving Lessons and Instructor Training in Oldham

We just wanted to give a heads up to Latics Driver Training who provide driving lessons in Oldham and the surrounding areas and their associated company Active Driving Solutions, who provide driving instructor training in Oldham.

Ged and Claire Wilmot have established these very professional companies over the last few years and have gained recognition with local people and respect within the profession.

They have recently launched their driver training blog, with a whole host of interesting articles about road safety and driver training.