Due to the very late notice from the DVSA we are now sending out this latest announcement:

The Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency have announced that driving tests are postponed on Thursday 19th March and Friday 20th March due to the unfolding coronavirus situation to protect staff, candidates and trainers. This is across car driving tests, motorcycle tests, ADI tests, lorry, coach and bus driving tests.

We appreciate this will have a huge impact on driving schools and we will endeavour to share and communicate advice as we develop our understanding of how changes in policy impact your business.

At the moment there is not a blanket ban on giving driving lessons, but we are conscious that general occupational health and safety guidelines at the moment advise to keep a reasonable distance between you and customers/colleagues, and you may be questioning whether it is advisable to keep teaching.

Currently, it is at the discretion of the trainer/business owner as to whether to continue normal operations. Clearly government advice for employers is to follow social distancing guidelines which suggest keeping 2 metres apart from colleagues or customers. This is impossible for driver trainers in car.

Precautions you can take however include:

• checking with pupils before each lesson to ensure they have not been exposed, or are experiencing symptoms which could be related to Covid 19, or have travelled recently from a region severely impacted
• avoiding unnecessary contact with clients who are over 70, pregnant women and those with some underlying health conditions.

You should also check with your driving school insurance company whether they have made any policy changes or stipulations about your cover due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The three partners of NASP are also aware that this crisis will affect your income and are working very hard on your behalf with government departments to try and find ways to ease the burden on this particular industry. We are analysing the current financial support packages being offered by government, banks and local authorities and will share our best advice on this shortly.

Please keep checking the NASP websites, individual NASP member association websites, member emails and social media for updated information.

We would remind you that ADINJC, DIA and MSA are Tier One consultative stakeholders of DVSA within the ADI industry and as such receive information and communications direct from the regulator to disseminate to members. It is wise to check the source and validity of any other information you see, particularly on social media, if it does not come from a professional body within the sector.

 The ADINJC is a national association run by ADIs on a not-for-profit basis.  We work tirelessly to inform, represent and support our members, and to promote the interests of our profession.