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Learning to drive:I can't say I agree with the assertion that family and friends make unsuitable driving instructors. As stated in your article last week ("L-plates don't pass the test"), anyone can be a driving instructor, so why would family and friends - who can give lessons for free - not make suitable driving instructors to provisional drivers?

My parents taught me. I arranged one lesson for the day before my driving test so that I would know the route taken - not for any other reason. I passed my driving test first go. Total cost of learning to drive amounted to named driver insurance on my parents' car, plus learner stickers, plus a couple of passport photos. Hardly exorbitant. I have been behind enough learner driver cars (with schools of motoring advertised) to know that the person instructing in the car in front of me is an extremely bad driver and that particular driving school is probably not worth paying for. Laura