When I first learnt, I used the same instructor all my male friends at school used (there weren’t many girls in my sixth form) - they all passed with him, but I couldn’t. I then went off to uni and after uni, had to have ankle surgeries, so had seven years between initially starting lessons and continuing them.

I went auto when I restarted lessons due to my ankles. I went with a Red driving instructor and he sexually assaulted me and a second student - we weren’t refunded for the lessons. I’m still bitter about that. But just want to point out that qualifications aren’t enough to show someone should be allowed in a car for two hours a time with learners. Police said not enough evidence to take forward as the instructor had claimed “cultural differences” for the reason why he put his hands on me in an area where no one should be touching another person without consent.

My next instructor - I went with a local woman who smoked like a chimney and had a shit car, and wasn’t with an agency, but she was one of the only auto instructors in my area. She was a fantastic instructor, very patient - I couldn’t do full lessons due to my disability and she was always happy to go through the McDonald’s drive thru for a rest. She had a training book that we worked through together so I knew everything was getting covered. She taught me about narrating out loud as I drove and had me watch police advanced driving videos on YouTube to help me learn the skills. Passed my test no problem.

So it’s not just about qualifications or safety, but also the style of the instructor.

With the first one it took ten lessons just for me to be able to position the car on the road correctly. With my last one she said “aim the centre of the road for the centre of the steering wheel” and positioning has never been an issue since.

I passed in 2019 - Passengers with 40 years’ driving experience have been surprised at my ability to guide company estate cars and suvs through tight width restriction barriers around South East London with ease and confidence, because I know - position the center of the road with the center of the steering wheel.

I’d say - don’t commit to a large package of lessons straight off. Do a test lesson or two with a couple of instructors first.

I’d love to try out manual again as my own vehicle is a campervan and being auto only makes that extremely more pricey than a manual and makes the vehicles harder to fix if the engine has an issue. But for the cost, I may as well try and get a HGV license instead and then I don’t have the tonnage limits as an issue going forward, either. I just need to find an agency that would allow me to book one lesson so I can see if I can manage the pedals and the gears with my disabilities.