With Father's Day soon approaching, it’s that time of the year where we aim to pamper and please our Dads for their years of servitude. A good idea for a Learner Driver would be to take out Temporary Learner Insurance Cover and treat them to a day out, maybe lunch? The benefit being they have a fantastic Father's Day out and you get some Driving Practice as well. I’m planning on taking my Dad out for a surprise trip (hopefully he doesn’t read this). Interestingly, whilst planning this trip, I started to think back to the first time I set foot in a car with him in the passenger seat and me in the driver’s. We were in an empty car park near my house and I was struggling with the clutch, as do most Learners. He spent a good hour teaching me about the biting point and eventually I moved the car without stalling. I think back on that moment and remember just how hopeless I was at driving. Though, it didn’t help that he was such a terrible teacher too.

My Dad Is A Nightmare For Learner Drivers

One of the first times we actually drove anywhere, all the confidence I’d built up from my Driving Lessons was shattered. Wanting to test his 'Little Learner Driver', my dad purchased a quick, one week, Learner Driver Insurance policy for me to drive the family Fiat. I vividly remember him wanting me to do an up-hill start on a pretty steep road, way steeper then I had ever encountered beforehand. No matter what I tried, I could only manage to stall the car and slowly start rolling backwards. I could hear the malice, slowly creeping into my dad’s voice, failure after failure. At the same time I could sense the anger welling up inside of me. Finally I snapped, applied the handbrake, got out of the car and told him to drive the car home himself.

I Needed More Practice

As the weeks progressed my driving started to improve and the trips with my dad went a lot smoother. Though, I was still shameful at hill starts. On one occasion, I really perpetuated that stereotype of the no skill, know nothing Learner Driver, as I stalled over and over again trying to advance up this hill. Eventually my dad had to get out of the car and switch seats with me, as I had been holding up traffic behind us for about 10 minutes. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m telling you all about my failures. Surely in the spirit of Father’s Day I should be telling you all about how amazing he was as a teacher. The truth is - he wasn’t. Any Learner Driver would have stopped showing up to lessons if their instructor was this pushy and infuriating. However, instead of giving up on me, he continued to take out cover for me to practice driving with him. He could see that I desperately needed the extra tuition and so a One Day Learner Insurance policy turned into a week, then a month. He dedicated more and more of his spare time to teaching me how to drive.

Conquering The Hill

One Day I was in the car and had to stop at a red light, on a hill. Needless to say I was nervous and awaited the eventual stall. The light went green and I started ascending the hill. I didn’t stall; I progressed upwards, albeit juddering. I was amazed and my dad turned to me with a reassuring smile, saying the words ‘good work’. It was then I realised I hadn’t been wasting my time, I had actually done it. To this day I still thank my dad for his resilience and dedication to helping me eventually pass my Driving Test.