Disability

Learning to drive

If you are disabled, you can learn to drive or have refresher lessons through a local driving school. It may be helpful to have an initial assessment at a Mobility Centre or to find an instructor who has some experience of teaching disabled people to drive and who may have an adapted car if required.

Hertfordshire Action on Disability (HAD) has a mobility centre. The centre provides driving assessments and tuition for disabled people learning to drive for the first time or returning to driving. HAD has six fully adapted cars and can help with getting adaptations for clients' vehicles.

The Forum of Mobility Centres can also tell you about Mobility Centres across the UK.

The British School of Motoring (BSM) has mobility instructors who use specially adapted automatic cars to help people with physical and learning difficulties to prepare for their driving test. See under 'External Links' to view BSM's website.

There is no public funding for driving lessons. However, the Family Fund will sometimes provide a grant to pay for driving lessons if you are caring for a severely disabled child under 16.

Motability can also help with the cost of driving lessons for people who have leased or bought a car through the Motability scheme.