We are delighted to have announced our intention to start preparing for a return to Advanced Driver observing and testing in England from Monday 6 July. This is in line with the DVSA announcement that driving lessons can restart from Saturday 4 July and driving tests from Wednesday 22 July.
The return to on-road coaching will start with a two-week period of peer observed sessions and assessments for our observers from Monday. This will be followed by the restart of Associate in-car coaching from Monday 20 July. Tests will restart two weeks later Monday 3 August. This reflects the arrangements for resuming Advanced Rider coaching.
Guidelines for our car Observers, Examiners and Associates have been drafted. We are still waiting for government guidelines to be published so we can ensure our own guidance is in line with what is issued to driving instructors.
The guidelines include recommendations about the use of PPE – facemasks, gloves and hand sanitiser – and groups are encouraged to start making arrangements to provide this equipment to their Observers.
We understand some Associates, Observers and Examiners will be hesitant about returning to in-car course delivery and testing. All activity must only resume when they feel it is safe to do so, according to their individual circumstances.
We will be monitoring devolved administrations to ensure the guidelines we produce are relevant to each nation as their respective advice changes. Groups are advised to monitor for regional and local regulation changes which may affect their activity.
We will issue our guidelines and announce the dates for each stage of the restart as soon as possible through a Special Edition of Inform.
