Real Lives

Diane Matheson, of Inverness, believes parents should take more responsibility for their children being able to drive. She said: “Parents will pay others to teach their children how to drive without accepting that it is up to them to teach them as well.”

Luck was on his side when just one week after passing his driving test, novice driver Rory Paterson managed to walk away from a collision which left his car smashed in two pieces. “I collided with a van at a junction around eight o’clock on a summer night around one mile from my home,” said student Rory, of Edinburgh.

“It only took me 12 hours of lessons to pass my driving test. I was lucky to have some lessons with my dad before I turned 17 on private land. This helped me to get up to a test standard quickly and in turn saved me a lot of money.

I was very nervous whilst taking my test but managed to pass with only 6 minors. Very quickly afterwards I found myself getting confident behind the wheel and I started to drive long distances and on different types of roads.”

It is every parent’s worst nightmare. I was at work when my wife, Kim, called to tell me our son Rob was being airlifted to hospital by Surrey Air Ambulance after a terrible crash.