Guide For Your Intensive Driving Course During The Pandemic

Do you have an intensive driving course booked with us? Are you worried about what may happen during the coronavirus pandemic? Recent reports suggest that a second wave is on its way – how will this affect your intensive driving course? And, what can you do to help yourself when it comes to learning to drive and passing your driving test! There are many variables to cover in this guide so we will break them down to help you.

Preparation Before & During Your Driving Lessons

Whether you are currently on your course or are awaiting to start your course we are here to help you when it comes to your intensive driving course. All students whether on a course currently, learning to drive weekly, or awaiting to start driving lessons should follow these simple steps:

Report any illness to your driving instructor immediately
Report any testing that you have received to your driving instructor
Report any quarantine restrictions to your driving instructor
Disclose any contact that you have had with a member of the public who has tested positive for the virus
Reduce any contact with other people by adhering to the government guidelines
Respect the two-metre rule

Likewise, your driving instructor should also report back any of the above conditions or circumstances. During these unprecedented times, we all need to do our part in fighting against the deadly virus.

During your driving lessons, you should help limit the spread of the virus by taking these simple steps:

Wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds with soap and hot water
Use anti-bacterial hand sanitizer after hand washing
Wear a mask to prevent the spread of the virus
Limit handshaking with other people
Keep to the social distance rules, if in doubt follow the government’s guidelines
Keep up-to-date with local, regional and national news

During your lessons or your intensive driving course, it is imperative that you keep safe, be vigilant and be mindful of your actions and the actions of other people.

What happens if anyone gets the coronavirus?

There is a high possibility that someone will get the virus, whether that is yourself, a family member or you have been contacted by track and trace as you have been in contact with someone who has the virus. The other possibilities include:

The driving examiner themselves has the virus
Your driving instructor has the virus
The driving examiner has been in contact with someone who has the virus
The driving examiner has been in direct contact with someone on a driving test
Your driving instructor has been in contact with someone who has the virus
Your driving instructor has a pupil who has the virus.

As you can see, there are many possibilities and variables. When it comes to your intensive driving course we ask everyone for understanding, patience, and compassion for the situation we all face. Nobody wants to postpone a course, stop a course halfway through or face the possibility of not sitting a driving test.

But we will work with you and your driving instructor and the DVSA to wrap up your training and testing in the quickest and practical way possible.

What happens if I have the coronavirus or need to self-isolate?

If you are unfortunate enough to need to self-isolate, or worse – have the coronavirus, we will support you during your recovery. Any lessons booked in with your driving instructor will be placed on hold until further notice. Once you are well and don’t need to self-isolate anymore, we shall be in touch to book the remaining hours of your course.

What happens if my driving instructor has the coronavirus or needs to self-isolate?

In the eventuality that your driving instructor needs to self-isolate or worse, has the coronavirus – we will follow the same rules for students. All courses will be placed on hold until it is safe to resume.

What happens if my driving test is cancelled due to examiner sickness?

This is a possibility. In the eventuality that your driving test is cancelled, the DVSA will email LPOD Academy (who booked your driving test) to inform you of your cancelled test. A new appointment will be offered by the DVSA. However, we don’t have any control over the proposed date, time and location and of course availability of your driving instructor. We will endeavour to change your driving test appointment to more suitable test date and time.

What will happen if there is a second wave?

The truth is – nobody knows. Not even the government have a concrete plan of action. The proposals so far include:

Keeping schools, colleges and universities open
Keeping businesses and workplaces open
Imposing local lockdowns and regional lockdowns
Reducing opening hours for pubs and restaurants
Enforcing the 6 person bubble only
Including social bubbles
Hand washing and imposing the two-metre social distancing rule

These are some of the confirmed and proposed plans for the second wave of the pandemic. So, when it comes to your intensive driving course it is impossible to know whether you will have to postpone or continue with your training. Until we have more news we have to continue as normal.

What will happen to my course if driving schools have to close?

This is a great question. Any course booked with LPOD Academy will be placed on hold until all restrictions are lifted. Where there is a local lockdown and driving schools are forced to close, we will be in touch with yourself and your driving instructor.

But, don’t panic – any hours remaining will be placed on hold and be had on the release of the lockdown or on the approach to your driving test. If your course is due to start but hasn’t resumed yet – you will put be put on the priority list upon release of the restrictions.

Will the DVSA stop theory & driving tests?

There is a possibility that the DVSA will stop driving tests if the risk to the driving examiners and pupils gets too high. As a government agency, the head of the DVSA will be in direct contact with union officials and MP’s to ascertain a plan of action.

You can visit the DVSA’s website here to keep up-to-date with any information relevant to the theory and driving test centres. You can also check our Facebook page here, and check regularly for any updates with regards to changes to the theory and driving test centres.

There is a possibility that the DVSA will close the driving test centres again. Again, we can’t be certain but we do NEED to prepare in case there is another lockdown. Here a few tips to help you be informed:

Keep open communication with your driving instructor
Check out our Facebook page for news
Email us at info@lpodacademy.co.uk if you are concerned. (NB the phone line may be limited due to high volumes of calls and enquiries. Email is the best form of contact or our social media channels.
Check the DVSA’s website for up-to-date information

What will happen to my test if the DVSA close test centres again?

This is a common question we get asked all of the time. During the first wave of the pandemic. The DVSA closed all bookings to the website and placed all existing tests on hold. This was the timeline of events.

Close all testing centres (theory and practical)
Offered keyworker tests only
Offered test ready keyworker tests at short notice
Limited test centres were open
Upon restrictions lifted, previous existing test booking candidates were invited to re-book their driving test via a link
Upon completion of the existing customers rebooking, the system opened up to the general public
Keyworker tests stopped.
Social distance measures enforced and changes to the test were made.

Here at LPOD – we worked tirelessly to help all of our course candidates to get them a test booked. Where candidates were keyworkers we ensured their driving instructor was free to continue training for essential driving lessons.

We also helped our candidates book their theory and driving tests via the keyworker booking system. Once the existing candidate’s system opened up, we helped all of our candidates with existing bookings get a driving test. Once the general booking system opened up, we successfully managed to book a test for all of our candidates regardless of the big queues.

What defines a keyworker – am I one?

The DVSA laid out their keyworker criteria. Keyworkers are essential workers needed to help keep the country running during a pandemic. These included the following industries.

Frontline workers

NHS Staff
Porters
Caterers
Cleaners
Doctors and nurses
GP’s
Surgeons
Delivery drivers
Paramedics
Volunteers
Carers

Keyworkers

Social Care staff
Cleaners, cooks and caters
Delivery drivers
Transportation and logistics
Haulage
Financial sector – banking, telecommunications, insurance
Domestic service personnel – gas and electrics and plumbing
Shopworkers
Schools and nurseries – (keyworker children)
Police officers
Court staff
Probation staff
Army and MOD
Food supply chains and factory workers
Funeral personnel
Journalists
Some religious personnel

If you fall in one of the above categories you may be defined as a Keyworker or a critical work in the eyes of the DVSA. Upon a second national lockdown, there is a heightened possibility that the DVSA will resume critical worker testing. If this applies to yourself, please get in touch with us at info@lpodacademy.co.uk or message us via our website.

Can I cancel my course and rebook for a later date?

Unfortunately, we don’t allow cancellations due to the pandemic. If you are actively on your course and a second wave means we have to stop – we will place your course on hold until it is safe to resume. If you are awaiting to start your course – and there is less than 4 weeks notice, we will still have to collect the final payment for your course. Your start date will change and your course will be placed on hold until it is safe and practical to resume.

If you book a course during a lockdown, we will only accept cancellations once lockdown restrictions ease and ONLY within 48 hours of this lifted restriction. Once a course is booked we have to fulfil our duties and match courses with instructors and their diaries. Please refer to our terms and conditions on point of booking.

What has LPOD Academy done to help students during the first lockdown?

During the pandemic and the lockdown, LPOD Academy helped all of our students by informing them of news via email and our social platforms. We have kept our driving instructors in the loop also with diary planning and test allocation services.

Upon a lockdown the DVSA moved all appointments to a later date, all pupils were contacted with revised new test dates and once the restrictions were released we were able to prioritise our students into our driving instructors diary.

Upon the DVSA releasing the general booking system we were able to get prioritise all test dates and get ahead before all the tests dates were released. We worked to provide our services and to help our students get on the road in the shortest time as possible.

Luc Sharman

19 September 2020

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