Newslink October 2021
Membership magazine of the Motor Schools Association; road safety, driver training and testing news.
Membership magazine of the Motor Schools Association; road safety, driver training and testing news.
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‘‘<br />
I started long distance walking<br />
when my father bought me my<br />
first pair of fell boots aged 12...<br />
I am happiest on a mountain,<br />
in a desert or by a river...<br />
and I could not do without my<br />
three pairs of walking boots<br />
and trek poles...<br />
‘‘<br />
What keeps you awake at night?<br />
Very little keeps me awake at night. I<br />
am not a worrier.<br />
No one is the finished article. What do<br />
you do to keep on top of the game?<br />
I try to keep up to date with what is<br />
going on in the industry. I read all (or<br />
nearly all) the stuff that comes through<br />
online and do a lot of courses, seminars<br />
and training days.<br />
What’s the daftest /most dangerous<br />
thing that’s ever happened to you while<br />
teaching?<br />
I have learnt that some learners will<br />
do EXACTLY what I say. In my early<br />
days I gave a controls lesson to a new<br />
pupil who was dyslexic and dyspraxic.<br />
She listened attentively to every word I<br />
said and we got the car started. I told<br />
her to push the clutch all the way down<br />
to the floor. She looked surprised and<br />
then she bent double, under the steering<br />
wheel, stretched forward and tried to<br />
push the clutch down with her right<br />
hand.<br />
I am saving up most of these stories<br />
for the book I will not get around to<br />
writing.<br />
I also realised that a learner who has<br />
driven really well, week after week, can<br />
still doing something surprising. I take<br />
learners up the A41 dual carriageway<br />
near us. It is straight but hilly and good<br />
for letting them see how easily the car<br />
will speed up downhill and slow down<br />
uphill. I don’t know what happened on<br />
this particular day but at 70mph we<br />
shot up a steep embankment and then<br />
careered back onto the carriageway. As I<br />
pulled myself up out of the foot well,<br />
wondering if I was dead or alive, the<br />
pupil just smiled and continued on up<br />
the road.<br />
Neither of us ever mentioned it...<br />
When or where are you happiest?<br />
I am happiest on a mountain, in a<br />
desert or by a river. I started longdistance<br />
walking when my father bought<br />
me my first pair of fell boots aged 12. I<br />
have walked and trekked ever since and<br />
never lost my love for remote places and<br />
open spaces.<br />
If you had to pick one book/film/album<br />
that inspires, entertains or moves you,<br />
what would it be?<br />
It has taken me years to get my work/<br />
life balance where I want it but at the<br />
moment I have got it right. I study<br />
ancient Greek and Latin and am really<br />
interested in ancient history. I visit as<br />
many very old historical sites as I can<br />
and clamber all over them (Health and<br />
Safety is unheard of in some parts of the<br />
world).<br />
I still train dogs and grow vegetables<br />
and I sing in the Chorleywood Choral<br />
Society – we are good enough to go on<br />
tour at home and abroad and this year<br />
we were singing at the Edinburgh<br />
Fringe.<br />
If I were on Desert Island Discs the<br />
music I would save from the waves<br />
would be Richard Strauss’s Four Last<br />
Songs and my book would be<br />
Steinbeck’s East of Eden.<br />
IN BRIEF<br />
EVs bright spot in<br />
car sales slump<br />
Sales of new cars continue to be very<br />
poor across Europe, with the only<br />
bright spot for manufacturers the<br />
continuing increase in the appeal of<br />
electric vehicles (EVs).<br />
New car registrations slowed once<br />
again in August, with a decline of 18%<br />
to 713,714 units. This marks the<br />
lowest recorded volume in August since<br />
2014.<br />
However, there was a sharp uptick in<br />
demand last month which saw EVs<br />
post their second highest ever monthly<br />
market share at 21%. The 151,737<br />
units registered last month marks a<br />
year-on-year increase of 61% and<br />
takes total volume since January to<br />
1.32 million units. A spokesman for<br />
JATO Dynamics commented: “Although<br />
deals and incentives have played a<br />
significant part in boosting demand, we<br />
have seen a fundamental shift in<br />
buying habits as more appealing<br />
models have entered the market and<br />
consumers have become aware of the<br />
benefits attached to EVs.”<br />
In August, EVs and plug-in hybrids<br />
outsold their diesel counterparts for the<br />
first time ever. This time last year, the<br />
volume of EVs was 158,300 units less<br />
than diesel car registrations, however<br />
last month we saw these EVs outsell<br />
diesel vehicles by 10,100 units.<br />
Demand was particularly strong for<br />
the electric versions of the Fiat 500,<br />
Peugeot 208, Hyundai Kona, Opel<br />
Corsa and Kia Niro, in addition to the<br />
outstanding results of the Volkswagen<br />
ID.3 – Europe’s top-selling EV during<br />
the month.<br />
Best seller: the VW ID.3<br />
NEWSLINK n OCTOBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
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