{"id":89126,"date":"2018-02-17T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=15836d0d2b6871e8587ecd29a96b7c61"},"modified":"2018-02-17T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-17T22:00:00","slug":"news-story-dvsa-steps-up-safeguards-to-protect-learner-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=89126","title":{"rendered":"News story: DVSA steps up safeguards to protect learner drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Jacqui Turland, the <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> Approved Driving Instructor (<abbr title=\"approved driving instructor\">ADI<\/abbr>) Registrar, has confirmed that she will treat driving instructors having sexual relationships with 16 and 17-year-old pupils as exploitation, even if it\u2019s consensual.<\/p>\n<p>If an instructor is considered a high risk to learners, they face being removed from the <abbr title=\"approved driving instructor\">ADI<\/abbr> register.<\/p>\n<p>There are currently around 39,000 driving instructors in Great Britain and the majority of those offer a high standard of tuition and pride themselves on delivering excellent customer service.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important that learner drivers get a high-quality service from their instructor. Learners and their parents need to be confident that their instructor will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>act in a professional manner at all times<\/li>\n<li>provide them with the skills they need to drive safely on modern roads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To ensure the safety of learner drivers, all driving instructors are subject to enhanced criminal record checks which must be renewed every 4 years.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"serious-allegations-of-improper-behaviour\">Serious allegations of improper behaviour<\/h2>\n<p>However, from April 2016 to March 2017 there were 109 investigations into instructor misconduct, which includes inappropriate sexual behaviour and other offences.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> will investigate serious allegations of improper behaviour and refer its findings to the police. These allegations include instructors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>using sexualised language<\/li>\n<li>using unnecessary physical contact<\/li>\n<li>making inappropriate contact with their pupils<\/li>\n<li>sending indecent messages or images to their pupils<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Andy Rice, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> Head of Counter-Fraud and Investigations, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr>\u2019s priority is to help you through a lifetime of safe driving.<\/p>\n<p>We take the safety of learner drivers extremely seriously and will thoroughly investigate any complaints about the conduct of instructors and will involve the police where necessary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Any driving instructors threatening the safety of learner drivers and failing to meet the \u2018fit and proper\u2019 criteria will be removed from the <abbr title=\"approved driving instructor\">ADI<\/abbr> register.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"unacceptable-behaviour-and-contractual-issues\">Unacceptable behaviour and contractual issues<\/h2>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> is also reminding learner drivers that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>it\u2019s illegal for driving instructors to use a hand-held phone while the learner is driving<\/li>\n<li>it\u2019s unacceptable for instructors to be impatient, shout or swear at them during their lessons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You should also report any contractual issues you have with your instructor to <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr>, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>lessons that are shorter than agreed<\/li>\n<li>the instructor arriving late<\/li>\n<li>the instructor cancelling lessons<\/li>\n<li>the instructor failing to provide lessons you\u2019ve paid for in advance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> will ask the instructor about the matter on your behalf. However, <abbr title=\"Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency\">DVSA<\/abbr> can\u2019t help you get any money back.<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p>Find out how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/complain-about-a-driving-instructor\">complain about a driving instructor\u2019s service or behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"choosing-a-driving-instructor\">Choosing a driving instructor<\/h2>\n<p>The best place to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/find-driving-schools-and-lessons\">find a fully-qualified driving instructor<\/a> that meets your needs is on GOV.UK<\/p>\n<p>When you use this service, you can check if instructors agree to follow the voluntary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/driving-instructor-code-of-practice\/approved-driving-instructor-adi-code-of-practice\">driving instructor code of practice<\/a>. This sets out how they should behave in their personal conduct and business dealings.<\/p>\n<p>All the driving instructors listed have passed enhanced criminal record checks and had their ability to teach assessed to a set standard.<\/p>\n<div role=\"note\" aria-label=\"Information\" class=\"application-notice info-notice\">\n<p>Driving instructors choose whether or not to be listed on this service, so not all qualified instructors will be shown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has confirmed driving instructors who have relationships with learner drivers could be removed from the register.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89163,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89126\/revisions\/89163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}