Tenant News: DRIVE – The UK’s Leading Driving Instructor Training School

DRIVE, a Fusion Hive-based driving school officially launched just over a year ago, is now the fastest growing school in the UK.

It has seen its instructors on the road grow by 150 in seven months – with the business on track to hit 500 cars nationally in three years.

DRIVE is the driving school arm of SmartDriving, the UK’s leading driver training organisation, which holds approximately 12 to 15 per cent market share for training driving instructors.

Lockdown forced the business to put launch plans on hold, before relaunching DRIVE officially in October 2021, who are now based in Fusion Hive, Stockton-on-Tees.

It has also developed a 90-strong base of trainers based across the UK. As a company, SmartDriving is now able to provide a career pathway for driving instructors, from training through to a career with the driving school.

Adam Bragg (pictured, right) with senior trainer Mike Fowler), Director of SmartDriving and DRIVE, said:

“When we launched the business, we found that we were training hundreds of instructors every year, but after they had trained with us, they would move on to other driving schools.

“By launching DRIVE, the hope was that those instructors would stay with the business and build careers as driving instructors with us and complete the ‘loop’ by then becoming trainers for us.

“Unfortunately, a lot of driving instructors had been stuck in the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency process as a result of delays cause by the pandemic. However, that has seen the instructors all qualify around the same time and has given the business a real growth boost.

“The challenge now is for us to sustain this rapid growth. We’re looking to do that by showcasing the long-term career prospects in the industry, looking after our staff and further expanding the services we offer as a driving school and training provider.”

Dale Southworth, Senior Accountant at Burgis & Bullock, said:

“We have closely with SmartDriving for more than 10 years, with work ranging from business strategy advice, to helping the business move from an LLP to a Limited company.

“The success of DRIVE is a perfect example of a business that bided its time during lockdown, planned in detail and put all the processes in place to make the re-launch of this driving school arm of the business a success when the time was right.”

If you are interested in SmartDriving, please visit the link below to receive your free info pack: https://smartdriving.co.uk/driving-instructor-training/