Motorway lessons are priced on enquiry, and the reason is the map: from Leytonstone you are on the M11 in minutes, from Canada Water you cross the river first. Same teaching, different length of session, so we quote from your postcode. Automatic cars, DVSA-approved ADIs, full licence holders and accompanied learners.
Learners could not legally use a motorway in this country until June 2018, and the practical test still does not go near one. So the first motorway most British drivers ever drive, they drive alone.
That is the gap this closes: one road type, taught properly, in a dual-control automatic with a DVSA-approved instructor beside you. There is no office: we collect you anywhere in the 51 areas we cover, seven days a week, 7am to 10pm.
Why This Lesson Exists
Before June 2018 a provisional licence holder on a motorway was breaking the law. Since then learners have been allowed on, but only with an approved driving instructor, in a dual-control car with L plates showing. It is voluntary, and in practice very few learners take it up before their test.
The test has not changed to match. An examiner will use a dual carriageway if the route has one, and that is as close as it gets. Gantries, all-lane running, a red X, a breakdown with no hard shoulder: none of it is marked, so none of it has to be taught before you pass.
What a Session Covers
- Joining at the speed of the traffic already there, using the whole slip road rather than arriving at the end of it at 45
- Lane discipline: left unless overtaking, back to the left once past
- Safe gaps: what two seconds looks like at 70, doubled in the wet
- Overtaking properly: mirrors, blind spot, decide, go, return
- Reading gantries and variable limits early enough to act on them
- Smart motorways: all-lane running, the red X, the emergency areas
- Leaving early rather than late, off the countdown markers
- Breaking down where there is no hard shoulder
- Fatigue, and planning the stop before you need it
Two of those need spelling out. A red X means the lane is closed, not busy, and driving under one is an offence enforced by camera; the reason is usually ahead of you and out of sight: a stopped vehicle, debris or an incident. Where a motorway runs all lanes, the hard shoulder is a running lane and the emergency areas do its old job.
So if the car fails there: get left, reach an emergency area if it will carry you, and if not, as far left as you can, hazards on, everyone out through the left-hand doors and behind the barrier. Use the orange SOS phone, which tells the control room which stretch you are on. We talk it through on the road, long before you could need it.
Where the Motorway Actually Starts
There is no motorway inside East London. The nearest is the M11, and junction 4 at Woodford is the access nearly everyone here uses: it sits on Charlie Brown’s Roundabout, where the A406 North Circular and the A104 meet the start of the motorway, and the carriageway runs north past Loughton and Epping.
Getting to it is half the teaching. The A12 through Leyton and Leytonstone, and the A406 east from Waterworks Corner, are multi-lane roads with slip roads, and the limit steps up in stages rather than jumping straight to 70. Joining and lane changes get built there, at the speeds those stages allow. For Barking and Newham the A13 does the same job.
South of the river it is the A2, out through Kidbrooke and Bexley towards the M25 at Dartford: a longer run before the first fast mile, which is why there is no single hourly figure here.
Who It Is For
- Full licence holders who have never driven a motorway, which is most people here
- Drivers who used to and stopped; the confidence goes before the skill does
- Learners on a provisional, with an ADI in a dual-control car, legal since June 2018
- Anyone about to buy a car or start a commute out of London
An automatic licence is no obstacle, because automatic is all we teach. It also takes a job off the pile at the worst moment: on a short slip road with a lorry closing in lane one there is no gear change to make and nothing to stall.
What It Costs, and Why We Quote It
Motorway lessons are priced on enquiry, and that is not a dodge. From Wanstead you are on the M11 within minutes and nearly the whole session is motorway. From Canada Water you cross the river and work out along the A2 first. One rate for both would mean overcharging half of East London.
Send us your postcode and what you want out of the session, and you get a figure before you commit to anything. Cash or bank transfer, no charge for pick-up.
Everything with a fixed rate is on the prices page: automatic lessons at £37 an hour or £350 for ten, refreshers at £41, Pass Plus at £260, a mock test at £50.
Motorway Lessons or Pass Plus
These overlap, so here is the honest version. Pass Plus is £260 for all six DVSA modules and motorways is one of them. If you want the whole post-test syllabus (town, all-weather, rural, night, dual carriageways, motorways), Pass Plus is the cheaper route to the motorway hours, because they are inside that price. Booking standalone lessons first and Pass Plus after means paying twice for the same stretch of the M11.
If motorways are the only gap, standalone lessons are the right call: the whole session goes on one road type rather than a sixth of it. There is no certificate at the end, which matters only if your insurer discounts for Pass Plus, so ring them before you decide.
When Motorway Lessons Are the Wrong Choice
We would rather talk you out of it than sell you the wrong thing. It is a poor fit if:
- You are a learner still working on roundabouts. Motorway hours will not move you closer to a pass, because the test does not cover them.
- You have never driven a dual carriageway. Most of a first session would go on the A12 before we reached the M11, so either book it knowing that, or put an hour of refresher work at £41 in front of it.
- You drive a motorway most weeks and one habit bothers you. That is an hour of refresher work at £41.
- You want the full post-test syllabus. Pass Plus at £260 includes these hours and ends with a certificate.
- You are booking for an insurance discount. A standalone lesson carries no certificate.
- You want to be taught in a manual. We stopped teaching manual, so another school suits you better.
If you are not sure which you are, describe the drive that worries you and we will say which to book, including when the answer is none of them.
Motorway Lessons FAQs
How much are motorway lessons?
On enquiry. Session length depends on how far you start from motorway-grade road: minutes in Wanstead, a river crossing and a run out to the A2 from Canada Water. Send a postcode and we will quote it.
Can I do this before I pass my test?
Yes, with an approved instructor in a dual-control car showing L plates. Learners have been allowed on motorways since June 2018. It is voluntary and not on the test, so most leave it until after.
Which motorway will I drive?
The M11, joined at junction 4 at Woodford, after a build-up on the A12 and the A406. South of the river, the A2 towards the M25 at Dartford.
Motorway Lessons Across East London
The teaching is the same wherever you start. The drive to the first slip road is not, so each page below is written round its own area.
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
If your area is not listed it is still covered. The areas page has the full list, and newer parts of it are booked from this page.
Enquire About Motorway LessonsReviewed and updated August 2026 by the Wharf Driving School team.