Driving Instructors Talk About Abuse

A host of driving instructors have come out to complain about the residents of an area of Tyneside who have been hurling abuse at them over a row about where they conduct their driving lessons.

They claim to have been spat at, verbally abused and have even reported ine incident where a teenager launched himself onto the bonnet of a car in the middle of a driving lesson.

The problems have been caused by anger at the driving instructors using certain streets in the area for lessons and now the the head of the Independent Instructors’ Association of Newcastle believes things may start to get worse.

Frank Doyle commented “My fear is that this is stirring it all up. People think we’re fair game.

“It could lead to a member of the public doing something aggressive. Things can get out of hand very quickly.

“What we don’t want is for someone to get in a confrontation and a road-rage incident to occur.”

He adds “Driving instructors teach people a life skill and we conduct ourselves very professionally.

“We are actually good for areas, as we keep a lookout for anything going on.

“I’ve heard of instructors preventing burglaries and only last week I knocked on a door to tell a man he’d left his car lights on.”