Intensive "1 week" driving license courses

[mik]

I suspect nobody on here has done one, but do you know anyone that has?

I know someone (based in Glasgow) that is seeking to get their license pretty urgently. They've just never bothered previously. They are thinking that taking some time off work and blasting the training => test might be a better option for them?

Are they a "good choice" ?

[Carlos]

My best mate did it 30yrs ago and passed 6 days after his 17th Birthday. Although he could drive a car well beforehand as we used to drive on airfields near us in our parents cars.

Not sure if it will work so well for a total novice though.

[dinny_g]

If you've driven a fair bit - on Provisionals and with licenced drivers then yeah I could see the value.

But to try to learn to drive from novice to Passing your test in a week seems reckless to me and bound to end in tears. You can't fast track experience

[Jobbo]

I imagine you need to have your theory test done before you can do one of these now. Getting a test appointment was delayed during and after COVID with a backlog; not sure if that has gone away or whether the intensive test people manage to beat the queue with block bookings, pet testers or whatever.

[Gavster]

My best mate did it 30yrs ago and passed 6 days after his 17th Birthday. Although he could drive a car well beforehand as we used to drive on airfields near us in our parents cars.

Not sure if it will work so well for a total novice though.

There was a kid at my school who always seemed to have loads of cash, so he went out and bought a Peugeot 405 (this was in ~1994 and the car was nearly new) and did a 1-week intensive course, he also passed first time. So they do seem to work, as long as you're not a complete and utter .

[Zonda_]

Do places even do them anymore? As far as I’m aware there is still a big wait for driving tests.

[unzippy]

So long as you accept it is to teach you to pass the test - not teaching you to "drive"...

[Ascender]

Yeah, if it's a manuel car and someone has zero experience, this is going to be passing by the seat of your pants stuff surely? Unzippy nails it...

[mik]

So long as you accept it is to teach you to pass the test - not teaching you to "drive"...

To be fair, that should be true for everyone. You should learn more after you pass your test than you did before, but the majority of folks just don't.

[integrale_evo]

I wonder how much seat time you get?

I seem to remember most learners have about 30h of lessons? More than possible over a week but I’d imagine it would fry your ( and your instructors ) brains going straight out and spending 6h in the car having never driven before.

To be honest, in some ways it’s probably better than the couple of hours a week for a few weeks with time inbetween to lose the feel and partly re learn everything.

I don’t think the timeframe is an issue, more how much actual driving you get to do in that week and how knackering it would be for a newbie.

They’ve been around for decades so guess they have a fair idea what they’re doing.

[V8Granite]

I had 18 hours of lessons to pass my driving test.

I had a 4 day training course to pass my bike test, passed on day 5.

It completely depends on if the person is keen on driving and roadcraft. Driving itself is incredibly easy, it’s reading the road which takes seat time and concentration. So if they concentrate while driving and know what to look for and how to do it then they will be fine.

An excuse to do some road driving with them and say what you’re looking at and why.

Dave!