Have you always wanted to be your own boss and have the flexibility to work the hours you want? Then maybe becoming a driving instructor is the career path for you.

Here at Bill Plant, we aim to make the instructor feel part of the team as well as having the autonomy of being your boss and working the hours you decide. We try to make becoming a franchisee an easy process as possible. We understand that it is fundamental to be your own boss and to run your own diary, but you also get the full support of the dedicated Bill Plant team. And all this comes at a competitively priced weekly franchise fee.

This is why Bill Plant Driving School has been the fastest growing driving school in the UK for the last 5 years.

We are currently offering the first 6 weeks franchise free for all new ADI’s and PDI’s  so now is the time to join Bill Plant Driving School. It’s time to fulfill those dreams of being your own boss…..

Benefits include:

• Brand new Vauxhall Corsa Club 1.3CDTi - includes insurance and maintenance
• Free accident/illness cover
• Free Company share
• First 6 weeks franchise free
• Free corporate wear

You can read more about becoming an instuctor here.
For more information you can email us or you can call our dedicated team on 0800 389 2254.

We have a number of used cars in our fleet that we are now selling. All our cars are in excellent saleable condition and all cars come with the following:

• Air Conditioning
• Alloy Wheels
• CD Player
• Low Tax
• Excellent MPG
• Low Emissions
• Plus Pack

If you would like to view any of these cars, then please contact Martin on 01765 609140 or 07730 000004, email: msmith@billplant.co.uk. Please quote the price and mileage of the car when contacting us.

Three directors from Bill Plant Ltd have stepped out of their cars and onto bicycles to raise money to help provide clean safe drinking water to African villages.

Bill Plant, the founder of Bill Plant Ltd, the UK’s fastest growing driving school and driver training company, Paul Kittrick, operations director, and Roy Danby, training director, pedalled the  113 mile Loughshore Trail cycle way in Northern Ireland. The intrepid trio will be hoping their efforts raise enough to buy at least four additional water pumps in remote villages in Malawi.

Bill Plant Ltd, which has a 300 plus network of driving instructors and driver trainers across the country, has teamed up with UK water charity Pump Aid and pledged to purchase a new pump per month.

Paul Kittrick said :  “As driving instructors and driver trainers, we are more used to being behind the wheel of a car than on bicycles so it was quite a challenge. The weather was appalling and we were definitely saddlesore, but we managed to raise £1014 for our efforts. We are proud to be associated with Pump Aid which is a small specialist charity providing clean water very cost effectively working closely in partnership with local communities. This cycle ride signals the start of our ongoing support for Pump Aid.”

Amy Cruse, Development Manager for Pump Aid: ‘We are thrilled Bill Plant has chosen to support us. This partnership means that we can reach more communities in southern Africa and provide them with the clean water that they desperately need.’

For more information about Pump Aid, go to their website: http://www.pumpaid.org.

If you are interested in raising money for Pump Aid, or any other charity, then please visit Just Giving for more information.

It is a sad fact that young males between the ages of 17 and 20 years of age are ten times more likely to be killed or injured than their older counterparts, so what can we do about it? In spite of the individual attention and training that they will have received from one the team qualified instructors at the Bill Plant School of Motoring, once they have successfully passed their two part driving test they are out of the Driving School’s hands.

Once a new driver is qualified they should seriously consider enrolling on a pass plus course which will not just make them better drivers, but will in most cases qualify them for lower insurance premiums, itself a tremendous bonus. Government is considering legislation to reform the driving test and safety organisations such as “Brake” advocate a provisional period after the test restricting the new driver to day time driving and not carrying passengers. Until reform is brought in the statistics will unfortunately continue.

When you get ready to go out at night and need to drive, you should always make sure that both you and your car are prepared for the outing.  You need to make sure that you will be able to see adequately to drive and you may find that as you age you may need night time driving glasses.   Always allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness if you leave a brightly-lit building.  And it’s a good idea to make sure your windshield is clear on the inside of your car and the outside to cut any glare that may occur from passing vehicles in the other lane. 

The biggest priority of a night time driver is to make sure the lights on his or her car work properly.  Headlights, taillights, parking lights and turn signals should all be in good working condition.  Make sure that the headlights work in both positions – main beam and dip.  Use the proper settings on your lights when driving to help you see better.  Dimly lit or dark roads with little traffic can be traversed using your high beams.  When driving in town or on roads that are lit, use the dipped setting.  Always remember to dim your lights when on the bright setting to oncoming traffic so as not to blind the other motorists.

If you feel yourself getting tired while you are driving at night, stop the vehicle, get out, and take a break.  Fatigue can cause you to fall asleep at the wheel and if this happens you could get involved in an accident, potentially a fatal one.

As soaring fuel prices continue to hit the headlines there can be no motorist who is not interested in saving this precious commodity. Here at the Bill Plant School of Motoring, we have vast experience in driving and want to share our knowledge on techniques you can use to save fuel.

Do you really need to use your car today? If the journey is short, less than two miles for instance, the engine is at its most inefficient and will use more fuel, walking to your destination in these circumstances could be an option. Take the most direct route and go at off-peak times if possible to save fuel and time, sitting in congestion means you are often doing zero miles per litre. Check your tyre pressures this reduces wear and helps fuel economy.

At Bill Plant our qualified driving instructors always emphasise keeping within the speed limit, this is the law after all, but for instance travelling at 56 mph uses 25 per cent less fuel than 70mph and a smoother driving style can bring significant fuel saving. Reduce your drag by removing roof racks when not in use and drive with your windows up. Fuel has never been more expensive, save it!

In common with many countries in the Sub-Sahara regions of Africa, Malawi suffers from a lack of clean drinkable water in certain parts of the country, but help is at hand through the good offices of Bill Plant. The fastest growing National Driving School has donated money to Pump Aid which specialises in bringing water to those most in need.

Pump Aid have been around for well over 11 years and during that time they have successfully supplied and installed “Elephant” pumps which are simple devices that once installed, require little maintenance easily carried out by the local population themselves.

The initial donation made by the Bill Plant School of Motoring is seen by them as an initial signal, heralding the start of a long association with Pump Aid, which will save and improve the lives of tens of thousands of Africans.

What is not in doubt is that modern cars are structurally far superior to models widely available in years previously, but the width of the pillars to achieve this has grown, in particular the one that divides the windscreen and the side windows, known as the “A” pillar, the downside is that his pillar obstructs the vision of thousands of drivers.

Your Bill Plant qualified driving instructor will have made you aware of the potential restriction the “A” pillar may cause in your ability to scan the road ahead. As a reminder to all drivers you should make sure that nothing is hidden from view by the pillar before making a manoeuvre as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are easy to “lose” in the space behind this. Make sure you take time to look around the pillar, not just take a quick “snap-shot” look which could allow a cyclist to be hidden from view.

Never forget that good all round vision is essential to safe driving, vital in fact and remember that as a driver of a motor vehicle, the onus is on you to ensure that nothing is there.

The chief medical officer Liam Donaldson has called for teenage drivers to be banned from drinking any alcohol at all when taking to the wheel of a motor vehicle, a zero limit. Even when they have consumed within the present limit the teenager is twice as likely as an older driver to be involved in an accident.

Many younger drivers are asking why they should be treated differently to older drivers and we believe that the answer is quite simple. Not only are older drivers more careful due to their experience, but they are much more tolerant to alcohol than a younger person.

At Bill Plant we train our learner drivers to the highest standard at all our UK wide driving schools, and as part of our tuition we have always considered that driving a motor vehicle and alcohol are two things that do not mix, Mr Donaldson’s views may be controversial, but they could save lives.

Most drivers tend to be reactive drivers when they first learn to drive.  New drivers tend to wait and see what the other drivers on the road are going to do.  As you gain experience driving, your skills start to reflect your personality and attitude.  You start to watch out for hazards sooner the more you drive and you begin to drive proactively.  This means you try to control your part of the situation by adjusting your speed and moving out of the road if there is room.  As long as no one is tailgating you, you do not have to worry about being rear-ended.  If you make good use of your horn, headlights, and brake lights, you can help avoid an accident.

If you need to brake to come to a stop and the road is dry and even, braking very hard is appropriate.  When the weather is bad – snowy, rainy, and icy – a proactive driver will use various driving techniques to slow down and stop their vehicle.  Threshold braking requires the driver to gently brake without excess pressure.  Cadence braking is the method of tapping the brake, pumping it to slow down. 

Sometimes you will need to turn your vehicle around in order to avoid the road hazard in front of you.  If you are on a two-lane road you will need to perform a two-point turn with an emergency stop.  If the road is larger, you can safely try to perform a U-turn.  If you need to back up quickly, make sure there is not traffic behind you.