Frequently Asked Questions

You must be at least 17 years old to start driving lessons on public roads in the UK. You'll also need a valid provisional driving licence before your first lesson. You can apply for your provisional licence from age 15 years and 9 months.

Yes. You must hold a valid UK provisional driving licence before you can legally drive on public roads. You can apply for your provisional licence online via the DVLA website. It typically arrives within a few days. Once you have it, simply contact us and we'll get you booked in.

Every lesson is taught by a DVSA-approved driving instructor. An ADI has passed three qualifying exams, holds an enhanced DBS check, re-registers with the DVSA every four years and is subject to DVSA standards checks in between. The green badge in the windscreen is the proof, and any instructor should be happy to show you theirs. You can read about the people who teach here on our instructors page.

Longer than most people hope, and the honest answer is that nobody can tell you at the first lesson. The number repeated across the industry is roughly 47 hours of tuition and about 20 hours of private practice, though it is an estimate in wide circulation rather than a published DVSA figure, so use it as a ballpark and nothing firmer.

Your instructor will give you a far more useful read after three or four hours, once they have seen how you handle junctions and traffic. Regular weekly lessons shorten the total; a lesson whenever you remember stretches it.

Yes, and it is all we teach. There is no clutch, no gear stick and nothing to stall, so from the first lesson your attention goes on mirrors, road position and junctions instead of your left foot.

That helps on East London roads, where a lot of the hour is spent stopping and starting behind buses. A licence passed in an automatic lets you drive automatic cars only, which now includes nearly every electric and hybrid on the road.

No. Manual tuition has been discontinued, so every lesson, course and mock test we run is in an automatic car. An automatic licence covers any automatic vehicle, which is most of what is being sold now. If you need a manual licence for a job that requires one, you will need a school that still teaches manual, and we would rather say so before you book than after.

Have your provisional licence on you, because your instructor is required to see it before you drive. Beyond that, bring nothing. You will not be asked to pull away into traffic: the car is taken somewhere calm first, and only then do you take the wheel.

Expect to spend the hour on getting comfortable at the controls, pulling away, stopping smoothly and looking in the right places at the right time. Most people are actually driving well before the halfway mark. The last few minutes are spent telling you what you did well, what needs work, and what the next hour will cover.

Call 07706 876263, email info@wharfdrivingschool.co.uk, or send the contact form. Three things make the reply useful: your postcode, any driving you have already done, and the days you could realistically commit to each week.

You will be told who teaches your patch and what they have free, and nothing is taken from you up front. No deposit, no joining fee, and the first hour is settled once it has been taught.

We cover 51 areas across East London and the City, including Canary Wharf, Docklands, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Mile End, Poplar, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Bow, Stratford, West Ham, Newham, Plaistow, Forest Gate, Ilford, Barking, Leyton, Leytonstone and Canning Town. Your instructor travels to you, so lessons can start from your home, work or college. Check our Areas Covered page for the full list.

We are a mobile driving school with no public premises, so there is no office to visit. Your instructor travels to you and lessons can start from your home, work or college.

We cover 51 areas across East London and the City, including Greenwich and Canada Water south of the river. If you are not sure whether your address falls inside our area, call 07706 876263 and we will confirm before you book anything.

Included, anywhere in the 51 areas we cover: home, work, college or a station. There is no joining fee, no registration fee and nothing charged for the instructor's travel time to reach you. The £37 covers the whole hour and nothing is added to it. Every rate we charge is set out on our prices page.

Seven days a week, 7am to 10pm, including bank holidays. Early slots before work and late ones after it are the two that go first, so it is worth booking a regular weekly time rather than arranging each lesson as you go. Tell us what your week looks like and we will work around it.

One or two hours. Two is the better option where it fits your budget and your week: you get more continuous driving, and less of the hour goes on settling in and getting to somewhere useful. Intensive courses work differently, packing the hours into consecutive days rather than spreading them over months.

Forty-eight hours' notice to cancel or move a lesson, please. Anything shorter than that, and any lesson simply not turned up to, can be charged at the full rate: your instructor has held the time and cannot usually resell it that late. Real emergencies are treated as real emergencies, so tell us as soon as you know. The full wording is in our terms and conditions.

You book it yourself at gov.uk/book-driving-test, using your provisional licence number and a debit or credit card. The DVSA fee is paid to the DVSA and is not part of any lesson price.

Book it once your instructor says you are close to test standard rather than before, and check the waiting time when you book: in London it is often long enough that you keep having lessons while you wait.

You choose the centre yourself when you book your practical test on gov.uk. We teach the routes at three centres – Wanstead, Goodmayes and Chingford – so most pupils book whichever of those is nearest or has the earliest slot. Your instructor will suggest one based on where you live and how your driving is coming along, and your later lessons then focus on those roads.

We cover three test centres in and around East London: Wanstead, Goodmayes and Chingford. The Barking (Tanner Street) centre closed in early January 2026. Your instructor will make sure you get plenty of practice on the exact routes used by your nearest test centre.

Yes, provided you have done your training with us and your instructor is satisfied you are ready to sit it. Test day carries a small extra charge for the car, shown on our prices page. You sit the test in the same dual-controlled automatic you have been learning in, and your instructor takes you to the centre.

You can book another test straight away, but you cannot sit it until 10 working days have passed. Use them. Your instructor goes through the examiner's marking sheet with you fault by fault, and the next lessons target what actually cost you rather than starting again from the top.

If nerves were the problem more than the driving, a mock test at £50, marked the way an examiner marks, is the closest thing to a rehearsal.

Automatic lessons are £37 per hour, or £350 for a 10-hour block booking. Refresher lessons are £41 per hour, and the beginner course is taught at the same £37 per hour rate. Intensive courses start at £1,229 for 30 hours and £1,580 for 40 hours, and a mock test is £50. Prestige car lessons are priced on enquiry. Call 07706 876263 if you want a quote for a particular course.

Cash or bank transfer. We do not take cards, so please come to the lesson able to pay one of those two ways. Single hours are settled at the end of the lesson itself. Block bookings, ten hours for £350, and intensive courses are paid before they start.