private practice rules and regulations.

Posted 17th April 2015

Table of Contents

What do we know about private practice rules and regulations.

Learning to drive as we all know can be an expensive ritual and some young drivers tend to supplement their driving lessons with some private driving lessons with family members or friends to build up their driving knowledge and skills.

The DVSA recommends that the average learner driver needs 47 lessons and 22 hours of private practice, so those hours spent driving under supervision are an essential part of a young driver’s training.

However, many supervising drivers are unaware of the legal responsibilities involved when they supervise learner drivers.

What the law requires of supervising drivers:

Driving with friends and relatives

You can be fined up to £1,000 and get 3 to 6 penalty points on your provisional licence if you drive without the right supervision.

Anyone you practise your driving with (without paying them) must:

be over 21
be qualified to drive the type of vehicle you want to learn in, eg they must have a manual car licence if they’re supervising you in a manual car
have had their driving licence for 3 years (from countries in the European Commission or European Economic Area)

It’s illegal for the person to use a mobile phone while they are supervising you.

Sourced from the DVSA.

Safety and other responsibilities.

Road worthy vehicle. As a supervising driver you could inform your student the importance of making sure they have a road worthy vehicle via certain routines for inspections. Making sure they can identify important parts of the car to inspect as well as helping them in preparation for their driving test.
Eyesight legalities. Check the driver’s ability to read a number plate from 20.5 metres.
L plates must be displayed. L plates must be displayed on the front and the rear of the vehicle being used for practice.
As the supervising driver then you will be deemed to be in control of the car. Traffic laws apply to the supervisor as well as the student driver, as an example you must not supervise under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Motorways. You are not allowed by law to drive on a motorway while on a provisional licence at any time.
Mobile phones. It is illegal for a supervisor or student to operate a mobile phone whilst on private practice.
The L plate. You should remove or cover L plates when the vehicle is not being driven by a learner, unless it is a driving school car.

Payment:

You must not accept payment for driving lessons unless you are licensed as an approved driving instructor by the DVSA. You will likely not charge a family member, but if a friend offers you payment then you must not accept it.

Insurance:

In certain driving situations the supervising driver may take control of the vehicle or even drives the student to a more convenient area before practice begins. The supervisor must be insured to drive the learner driver’s car and the same applies to the learner if they drive the supervisor’s car.