Automatic Driving Lessons in Collier Row are £37/hr with DVSA-approved instructors and free local pick-up. Lessons rehearse the Goodmayes test routes, about 13–21 minutes' drive away. What most learners here need time on is the Collier Row Roundabout, where Collier Row Lane, Collier Row Road, Clockhouse Lane and Chase Cross Road all feed one compact circle, and the narrow parked-both-sides run east along Chase Cross Road, which shapes how the lessons are ordered. Pick-up is free right across RM5, and it can change from one week to the next if your routine does. Any day of the week between 7am and 10pm suits us, including around Romford two miles south on the Elizabeth at rush hour if that is when you need to drive.
Somewhere in Collier Row (RM5) there is a quiet street with your name on it. That's where automatic driving lessons start.
Collier Row is a 1930s estate suburb north of Romford built around a single busy four-arm roundabout, with lanes climbing into open country behind it, which makes it a great place to build real, lasting driving skills. Every lesson is shaped around you, and we'll pick you up from home, work or college anywhere in RM5. If you would rather compare options, our Collier Row driving school page lists every service we run there side by side.
Collier Row is a 1930s estate suburb that stops abruptly. The grid behind the library is as regular as anything in Havering, and a mile north the houses give out altogether and the ground climbs towards Bedfords Park and its red deer herd. A course here works across that boundary rather than staying on one side of it, because the roundabout everything funnels through sits exactly where the two meet.
The Practical Details for Collier Row
Why Collier Row Learners Get Something Different
Collier Row has no station, only buses on routes like the 103, 247 and 375, so people here learn because the alternative is two miles to Romford. That changes the tone of a lesson: nobody is doing this as a hobby, and the hour goes on roads you will use next week.
The Collier Row Roundabout takes Collier Row Lane, Collier Row Road, Clockhouse Lane and Chase Cross Road on one compact circle, and Havering has consulted on a collision-reduction scheme for it. When the Chase Cross Road exit queues back, drivers hesitate and stop on the circle, which is the one thing you must not do.
On the Road in Collier Row
Manoeuvres are done on the 1930s grid behind the library, where the kerbs are straight and nothing comes through. The road work is three things: rolling give-way judgement on the Collier Row Roundabout, where four arms feed one compact circle; give-and-take along the parked-both-sides run east on Chase Cross Road; and genuine hill starts on the ground rising north out of the village towards Havering-atte-Bower.
A roundabout taken at a rolling pace with the look already done, and a hill start on Havering Road that does not roll back: that is what readiness looks like here. Tests run from Goodmayes, thirteen to twenty-one minutes south, so the A12 goes into the plan well before your date.
Collier Row: What Actually Happens
The two shopping streets do more damage than the roundabout does. The Tesco superstore on Collier Row Lane and the Aldi nearby both have entrances that put turning traffic straight across the pay-and-display bays, which run 8.30am to 6.30pm with a three-hour maximum. So the busiest driving in Collier Row is the two hundred yards either side of the circle, where cars are reversing out and turning in, not the circle itself.
Pick-up is normally on Melville Road or one of the streets around Gelsthorpe Road behind the library. Manoeuvres go in there first, on 1930s streets with straight kerbs. Then Collier Row Road west, White Hart Lane, Mawney Road and back north up Collier Row Lane to the roundabout, taken two or three times. Later hours climb Havering Road towards Havering-atte-Bower and come back down.
RM5 has no station, so learning to drive is not optional here and the bookings show it. Parents running children to school and then on to Romford, people working shifts that the 103 and 247 do not cover at either end of the day, and older drivers coming back to it after years off, who tend to want a refresher drive around Collier Row at £41 an hour rather than a full course.
Before You Book in Collier Row
The ground here climbs. Havering Road and Orange Tree Hill rise towards Havering-atte-Bower, and Lower Bedfords Road takes you up past Bedfords Park, so genuine hill starts are a normal part of a lesson rather than something we go looking for. In an automatic that means learning to hold the car on the footbrake and move away without rolling back.
The honest doubt is that Collier Row has no station, so every practice hour has to be with an instructor or in a family car. True, and it is why we build the hour around the roundabout and the shops you use anyway, rather than driving somewhere else to begin.
Common Mistakes Near Collier Row
If a single habit costs Collier Row learners marks, it's hesitating on the Collier Row Roundabout and stopping on the circle itself when the Chase Cross Road exit queues back. Drive here long enough and the Collier Row Roundabout, where Collier Row Lane, Collier Row Road, Clockhouse Lane and Chase Cross Road all feed one compact circle, and the narrow parked-both-sides run east along Chase Cross Road will do that to anyone. Closer to Goodmayes a different habit costs people: letting observation lapse between the closely spaced Seven Kings junctions. More Goodmayes faults come from creeping into box junctions and bus lanes than anything else, so that is where we focus.
Repetition somewhere quiet, then repetition on the real thing: that is the whole method, and it works.
In Their Own Words: Collier Row
"Ali was my instructor, a tremendous guy and a great teacher. …"
"… Thanks to a calm, professional and effective teaching style, I passed first time with zero minors, something I never thought possible. Every lesson was focused and tailored to what I needed."
Getting Booked In from Collier Row
Ring 07706 876263 or use the form, whichever you prefer. Nothing is charged until after your first lesson in Collier Row has happened. Everything we cover across East London is listed on our areas page, if Collier Row is not where your week actually starts.
Automatic Driving Lessons in Collier Row: FAQs
How many lessons should I budget for?
Enough that you pass, and no more than that. The published average is about 47 hours of tuition; block booking at £350 for ten hours keeps the cost down while you get there.
Where does a Collier Row lesson start?
Wherever suits you in Collier Row. Give us the address when you book, tell us if it changes, and your instructor will be there at the agreed time.
Is Chase Cross Road too narrow for a learner car?
No, but it is the road that teaches give-and-take. Running east from the roundabout it is parked on both sides, so one direction has to yield and the gaps are short. We leave it until the roundabout itself is comfortable, then use it every lesson, because meeting oncoming traffic in a gap is the single most examined thing round here.
Do you cover the Collier Row Roundabout from the first lessons?
You will see it early, because everything here feeds it, but you will not be sent round it cold. The first hours go on the quiet streets behind the library, Melville Road and the grid around Gelsthorpe Road, then we approach the roundabout from Collier Row Road, which is the least demanding of the four arms.
Where do we practise hill starts around Collier Row?
On the climb up Havering Road and Orange Tree Hill towards Havering-atte-Bower, and on Lower Bedfords Road going up to Bedfords Park. Both are quiet enough to repeat the exercise without an audience and steep enough to be worth doing. We come back down through the roundabout each time so it stays in the hour.
Can you collect me if I live off Lower Bedfords Road?
Yes. Lower Bedfords Road running up towards Bedfords Park is on the edge of things, and the roads up there are narrow and quiet, which makes them useful rather than awkward. We collect from the door, do slow-speed work and hill starts on the climb, then drop down to the Collier Row Roundabout for the busier half of the hour.
The Full Collier Row Line-Up
Whichever of these fits your situation, it is taught on the same Collier Row roads by the same team.
Areas Near Collier Row
We also offer automatic driving lessons across the areas around Collier Row:
Helpful Links
Book Automatic Driving Lessons in Collier RowLast reviewed August 2026 by the Wharf Driving School team.