Two-time British Touring...
Two-time British Touring Car champion Matt Neal is heading down under. The 42-year-old Vauxhall driver will travel to Australia to compete in the famous Bathurst 1,000km race. He has been signed up to drive a Holden Commodore in the V8 Supercar series, which boasts cars with rear-wheel drive and nearly twice the power of a BTCC racer. This will be the third time Neal has competed in the endurance race, having finished second in 1998 and 12th in 2000
If the only qualifications...
If the only qualifications you needed to become a DSA ADI (Driving Standards Agency Approved Driving Instructor) were as you stated in your news story then everyone and anyone who satisfies the criteria mentioned in your article would qualify.
Regarding your driving licence, if an ADI accumulates 6 points or more he/she has to inform the DSA, with risk of possibly losing their livlihood. Therefore, if he/she qualifies with 5 points already on their licence, one misdemeanour means that they are out of a job.
The exams, too, are rigorous, not just theory but a test of your own ability, and include a separate exam testing your teaching ability to an examiner who assumes the role of a pupil. Failure to successfully pass any of these exams within a specific time frame means that you would have to start the process all over again, with the expenses which accompanies this procedure.
Once qualified, instructors are subjected to periodic "check tests" whereby a supervising examiner accompanies an instructor while he/she conducts a driving lesson which will result in the instructor being graded between 1 and 6. If the instructor passes with the lower grades (1,2 and 3), they will be asked to take further check tests, normally within a few weeks. If they fail to improve their teaching standard they may have their licence to teach withdrawn, leaving them with the option of re-qualifying or looking for alternative employment. The higher the grade achieved on a check test, the longer the period will be until being subjected to the next one. The highest grade which can be achieved is a Grade 6. If this is achieved, then the next check test will be carried out in four years time.
Anyone who gives tuition for monetary gain who is not a Driving Standards Agency Approved Driving Instructor is committing a criminal offence, and would be liable to a large fine and/or imprisonment. Besides this, they would also invalidate their insurance, so both pupil and "instructor" would be totally uninsured.
More information from Martin"s website
www.INeedDrivingLessons.co.uk