We teach automatic driving lessons across Old Street for £37/hr, in automatics, with DVSA-approved instructors. The Wanstead routes get rehearsed before your test. Around here the skill that needs the most repetition is the rebuilt Old Street 'Silicon Roundabout', now a signalised junction rather than a gyratory, feeding the busy City Road and Great Eastern Street, so we start working on it early. We collect you anywhere in EC1V, from your door, your office or your college, at no extra cost. The diary runs 7am to 10pm every day including weekends, and you pay by cash or bank transfer afterwards.
Thinking about automatic driving lessons in Old Street? Here's how we teach them locally, and what they cost.
All our cars are automatic, so lessons in Old Street stay pointed at traffic, observation and road position from the very first session. Pick-up is free across EC1V. Our main automatic driving lessons page covers how the service works in general; this one is about Old Street specifically.
The junction at the top of City Road no longer works like a roundabout at all. Old Street was rebuilt into a signalised crossroads in 2020, and its cycle phases run on a different cycle from the traffic ones, so a green in your direction is not always yours to take.
Pulling up square at the junction, foot firm on the brake and short of the segregated cycle track, is the first habit to build.
What to Know Before You Book in Old Street
Automatic Driving Lessons in Old Street: Up Close
Since it was rebuilt in 2020, the Old Street junction runs cycles and vehicles on separate signal phases, so a green ahead of you does not always mean go. Stopping accurately at the line and holding on the brake, rather than creeping into the cycle track, is the local skill.
City Road and Goswell Road either side of it are heavy with buses and delivery traffic and rarely flow for long. Bath Street and Peerless Street, just north of the junction, are where the slow-speed work and manoeuvres get done before you take on the junction itself.
How the Driving Works in Old Street
Bath Street and Peerless Street, a couple of minutes north, take the manoeuvres, because nothing within sight of the junction stands still for long. The rest of the hour goes on Goswell Road and Great Eastern Street: pulling up behind delivery vans, easing back out past cyclists, and working out which signal belongs to you. Wanstead is where you will test, so those roads get their own sessions later.
Test standard here means reading the lane signs and phases before the junction rather than at it, and never ending up stopped across the cycle track. The drive out to Wanstead takes half an hour or so, and we do it as a full run so the roads around the centre are familiar.
Old Street: What Actually Happens
Great Eastern Street runs along a kerb that changes job through the day. Mornings it is loading bays and skip lorries; from early evening it fills with cabs and cars stopping for the bars near Shoreditch Town Hall.
Either way the nearside is blocked more often than it is clear, and cyclists come through whatever gap is left. Deciding early whether to hold back or move out is most of the driving here.
Pick-ups happen on Bath Street or Peerless Street, whichever has kerb space that morning. Early in the hour you work Goswell Road southbound, where the signals arrive in a run and the distance between them is short enough that your stopping has to be planned.
Great Eastern Street follows, with the blocked kerb and the cycle traffic. We usually finish heading back up City Road past St Luke's, one straightforward stretch to end on.
Two groups book here, and they want different things. Residents of the blocks around St Luke's, who have managed without a car because there is nowhere sensible to keep one, and office workers near the junction who need a licence for somewhere that is not London: a move out next year, a job that has started asking. Almost nobody here is learning to drive to work.
Another Way to Look at It in Old Street
Old Street is a working district, so its traffic pattern reverses the residential one: heavy at either end of the office day, calmer through the middle and unusually quiet at weekends. It also sits on the edge of the Congestion Charge zone, which is worth knowing before you start driving your own car. Most lessons here run early or after six.
The hesitation for people working around Old Street is time, not ability. Lessons in the middle of a working day are hard to justify. The practical answer is a standing early slot at seven or half seven, and you are back at your desk before nine.
Small Things That Make a Difference in Old Street
- at the junction, wait for a green that applies to your lane rather than following the car in front. The cycle phases run separately, so a car moving ahead is no proof, and stopping across the cycle track is the usual result
- drill the mistake Old Street's roads produce most: misreading the separate signal phases at the Old Street junction and stopping across the segregated cycle track
- play to what Old Street teaches you: reading traffic lights that run cycles and vehicles on different phases, which most junctions never test
- keep the last few weeks intensive so nothing goes rusty before the day
- drive Old Street's roads in the rain and after dark, not only in good conditions
Old Street Pupils, After the Test
“I recently passed my driving test and truly wouldn't have done it without Ali, a fantastic instructor: patient, calm and highly supportive. His guidance made me feel confident and prepared.”
“Lessons were well structured and focused on exactly what I needed each week. Highly recommend.”
Booking Automatic Driving Lessons in Old Street
Message us or ring 07706 876263. Lessons run seven days a week from 7am to 10pm, so most Old Street pupils find a slot that fits without rearranging anything. It is worth reading up on the Wanstead test centre before you book, since that is where the drive ends up.
Automatic Driving Lessons in Old Street: FAQs
How much do you charge in Old Street?
The price is £37/hr, with local pick-up included. There's a discount for block booking: 10 hours for £350. You can pay in cash or by bank transfer after each lesson.
Do I need to worry about the Congestion Charge during lessons near Old Street?
Not for the lesson itself, since the car and any charges are our responsibility. It is worth understanding for afterwards. The zone boundary runs close to Old Street and the charge applies during the day on weekdays and part of the weekend, so check the current hours before you drive into the City in your own car.
Can I fit automatic lessons around work near Old Street?
Usually, yes. Old Street is a working district rather than a residential one, so early mornings and evenings are the easiest slots and the traffic is lighter then too. Pick-ups from the station or from an office nearby are fine. Lessons cost £37 an hour, or £350 if you take a block of ten.
Are evening lessons around Old Street worth it, or too busy?
Worth it, if you want the harder version. After six the through traffic thins out, but the kerbside on Great Eastern Street gets worse, with cars stopping wherever they like and people walking between them. Thursday to Saturday is the extreme version, so beginners start elsewhere. From your sixth hour it is the most useful traffic near the junction, because every decision it asks of you is a kerbside one.
Do lessons from Old Street ever get out to the Wanstead routes?
Yes, and they should before you test. Most hours are spent close by on City Road and the streets around Bath Street, because that is where you actually drive. In the last few weeks we take the run east and work on the roads examiners use, which are faster and far more open than anything near the Old Street junction. Half an hour each way is worth it twice.
What should I have ready before I start?
Your UK provisional licence, sensible shoes and nothing else. Your instructor will collect you from wherever in EC1V suits.
More Ways to Learn in Old Street
Same instructors, same EC1V pick-up, different focus.
Automatic Driving Lessons in the Surrounding Areas
If your day starts somewhere else in East London, one of these will be closer:
Before You Book in Old Street
Book a lessonUpdated August 2026. The Wanstead details are checked each time we revise it.