Intensive driving courses start from £1,229 for 30 hours, or £1,580 for 40 hours, taught in automatic cars. They suit people who need a licence within weeks rather than months and can clear the days to do it.
An intensive course is the same tuition as a weekly course, delivered in a fortnight instead of over nine months. That is the whole of the difference. It is not an easier route to a licence and it skips nothing the examiner will ask you to do.
What it buys is retention. On an hour a week, a fair part of every lesson goes on recovering the ground you lost since the last one. Drive four hours a day for eight days and most of that loss disappears, which is why 40 concentrated hours can do the work of rather more spread thin.
Intensive Course Packages & Prices
Crash Course
Finishing rather than teaching. Priced for people who already have road time behind them.
£1,229
Full Intensive
Built for a standing start, with the extra hours a complete beginner needs.
£1,580
Custom Package
A different number of hours, or a course built backwards from a fixed test date.
POA
Payment by cash or bank transfer. Contact us to discuss which package suits your level.
30 Hours or 40?
The 30-hour course at £1,229 is for people who have driven before. If you have had ten or fifteen lessons, or drove regularly abroad, or started a course that stalled partway, 30 concentrated hours is usually enough to finish the job.
The 40-hour course at £1,580 is the one for complete beginners. You will see roughly 47 hours quoted as what an average learner needs; it is an industry estimate with no official source behind it, but taken at face value it makes 40 concentrated hours realistic rather than generous.
Some people finish inside it. Others buy a top-up block at the end, and we will say so early rather than on the last day.
If you genuinely do not know which you are, book a two-hour assessment at £37 an hour and we will tell you. It costs less than buying the wrong package and then topping it up.
How an Intensive Week Runs
A typical course is four hours a day across seven to ten days, or two-hour sessions spread over two to three weeks if you cannot take the time off in one block. Four hours is about the ceiling for useful concentration. Past that, people stop absorbing and start repeating the same mistakes more confidently.
A day usually splits into two hours, a break, then two more. Mornings tend to be new material and afternoons consolidation on busier roads, and as the course goes on the balance shifts toward test routes.
The final two or three days are test preparation on the roads around your own centre, including at least one full mock test run under proper conditions before the real one.
What’s Included
- Four hours of instruction on a course day, usually two, a break, then two more
- A structured daily lesson plan tailored to your level
- Full coverage of the DVSA practical test syllabus
- Practice on the real routes around your local test centre
- A mock driving test before your real test
- Detailed debriefs after every session
- Use of the school car for the practical test, at an additional charge
Before You Book
An intensive course only pays off if the pieces around it are in place. Before you book, you need:
- A valid UK provisional licence, and to be 17 or over
- A theory test pass, because you cannot book a practical test without one
- A practical test slot booked, or at least a clear view of what is available at your centre
- The days genuinely free, because a course that keeps getting interrupted stops being intensive
Practical slots at the East London centres are often booked out weeks ahead, so get the test date first and we will build the course backwards from it. Finishing your course test-ready and then waiting a month wastes most of what you paid for.
Who an Intensive Course Suits
The people it works for have a deadline and a diary that can take it:
- A job, a move or a family situation that needs a licence by a fixed date
- Annual leave or a term break you can give over to it in one block
- Ten or fifteen lessons already behind you and a weekly slot that is going nowhere
- A practical test already booked, which is the single strongest reason to do it this way
When an Intensive Course Is the Wrong Choice
We would rather talk you out of it than sell you the wrong thing. An intensive course is a poor fit if:
- You have never driven and can only spare a couple of days
- You are a genuinely nervous driver, because concentrated pressure usually makes anxiety worse rather than better
- You have not passed your theory test yet
- Your practical test is more than a couple of months away
In any of those cases, standard automatic lessons at £37 an hour, or a block of ten for £350, will get you to the same place for less money and with less stress. If you already hold a licence and simply want your confidence back, refresher hours at £41 are the better fit.
Mock Tests and the Real Thing
Every intensive course includes at least one mock test. If you want extra rehearsals beyond that, a standalone mock test is £50: a full-length run on a route around your actual test centre, marked to DVSA standards, followed by a debrief covering every fault.
Your centre will be Wanstead, Goodmayes or Chingford, and it makes a difference. Wanstead passes 44.4% of candidates overall and 42.1% in automatic cars, the best of the three centres we teach for, thanks largely to Charlie Brown’s Roundabout and the A406 North Circular.
Goodmayes sits near the London average and leans on the A12, the A13 and the Seven Kings junction. Chingford brings the A112 Chingford Mount Road and Larkshall Road. We teach the routes around whichever one you are booked at.
Intensive Driving Course FAQs
How much is an intensive driving course?
From £1,229 for 30 hours, or £1,580 for 40 hours. Bespoke packages are priced on enquiry once we know how many hours you need. Payment is by cash or bank transfer, and the DVSA test fee is paid separately to the DVSA.
Should I book 30 hours or 40?
The 30-hour course at £1,229 is for people who have driven before, whether that is a dozen lessons that stalled or regular driving abroad. Complete beginners are normally better served by the 40-hour package at £1,580. If you are not sure, book a two-hour assessment at £37 an hour first and we will tell you which to buy, which is cheaper than buying the wrong package.
How quickly can I actually pass?
The tuition itself takes one to three weeks. The real constraint is practical test availability at your centre, which in East London is usually booked out weeks ahead. Get your theory pass and your practical slot booked first, then we build the course backwards from your test date.
Do I need to pass my theory test before the course?
You cannot book a practical test without a theory pass, so in practice yes. We strongly recommend having both the theory pass and the practical slot in hand before your intensive course starts, otherwise you finish the course test-ready and then wait weeks, losing much of the benefit.
Is the practical test fee included?
No. The DVSA test fee is paid to the DVSA when you book your slot. Use of the school car for the practical test is available at an additional charge, so tell us your test date when you book so we can hold the car for it.
Are intensive courses taught in an automatic?
Yes, we teach in automatic cars only. Passing gives you an automatic licence, which covers automatic vehicles. Removing clutch control is also part of why an intensive works: there is no time wasted on stalling, so more of each day goes on observation, planning and test routes.
Intensive Courses Across East London
Choose your area for local pick-up points, the test centre you will be sent to and the routes we use in the final days of the course. Courses start from £1,229 wherever you are.
Tower Hamlets & the Docklands: test at Wanstead or Goodmayes
Hackney, Shoreditch & the City Fringe: test at Wanstead
Newham & Stratford: test at Wanstead or Goodmayes
Waltham Forest & Redbridge: test at Wanstead, Chingford or Goodmayes
Barking & South of the River: test at Goodmayes or Wanstead
Redbridge & the Roding Valley: test at Wanstead, Goodmayes or Chingford
Barking, Dagenham & Havering: test at Goodmayes
Book Intensive CourseReviewed and updated August 2026 by the Wharf Driving School team.