Young Driver driving lessons

Young Driver are running driving lessons for children at the Cascades Shopping Centre car park in Portsmouth, starting Sunday 30 August. It's for kids aged nine to seventeen, so it's aimed at the younger end of the scale — well before they'd even think about a provisional licence.

The whole thing is set up in a controlled environment that's built to look like real roads, with roundabouts, junctions and traffic lights all laid out. The idea is that they can get the hang of the tricky bits — the stuff that usually makes a first-time driver sweat — without any actual traffic around them. It's a way to build up the muscle memory and the confidence before they ever step foot on a public road.

Young Driver has been at this since 2009 and is the UK's largest provider of lessons for under-17s, with over 1.6 million lessons delivered across more than 70 venues. They talk about the stats too: they say pre-17 learners are 62 per cent more likely to pass their test first time than the national average, and that the scheme has helped cut crash rates among new drivers by over 80 per cent. It's a long game, really — getting the safe habits in early so they're second nature by the time they're actually legal.

There's also a place for disabled young people, with automatic vehicles available. Lessons start from £47.99, and the whole thing kicks off on Sunday 30 August at the Cascades car park.