Location Overview – The city of Gloucester is set in the heart of Gloucestershire and was occupied very early by the Saxons and Romans. The famous Gloucester Cathedral has been in place since the 800’s and was an authentic setting for the Harry Potter films. Gloucester is a port that links the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth. Gloucester docks have seen a significant renovation in the last few years with a vast shopping and entertainment centre known as Gloucester Quays. The old industrial dock buildings have been turned into luxurious waterside living apartments. Gloucester is situated east of the Cotswolds and west of the Forest of Dean. It is 30 miles from Bristol, 12 miles from Cheltenham and 7 miles from the Stroud valleys.
We offer bespoke driver training courses in and around Gloucester – and the UK. We offer a range of courses, including:
- General advanced driver training
- Van training
- Confidence and motorway courses
- Pre-court assessments
- Extensive fleet training from 1 to 1,000 drivers
During a session, we typically look at the following:
- Forward planning and observation
- Speed Awareness
- Vehicle control (gears, steering, foot controls, signals)
- Up-to-date rules of the road
- Dealing with road rage
- Reversing and manoeuvres
- Dealing with adverse weather
- Developing a positive attitude towards safer driving
- Town and urban defensive driving
- Driving in heavy traffic and more spatial awareness and blind spots
- Theory of skid control and learning what causes and how to avoid skids
- Eco-safe and economical driving
- Anticipation and awareness – Learning to see and not just look
- How to become a safer, more skilled driver on all roads
- Understanding other road users and their intentions
After the training, you will receive a report documenting the training date, the driver’s name, the tutor’s name and the unique DVSA registration number. We also add a verification number to each report, so should anyone wish to verify the report at any time they will be able to do so. The report acts not only as a confirmation of the training but also gives valuable hints and tips to refer back to.
The many benefits of our advanced and defensive driver training:
- To increase your levels of skill and overall driving confidence
- To remove any risky driving characteristics or habits
- Considering any issues that may be specific to your driving style
- Increasing car control on all types of roads and motorways
- Helping to reduce wear and tear costs on your car
- Improving your MPG – helping to save on fuel costs
Driver training for business clients and fleet clients, we offer a range of benefits that include:
- Taking control of your occupational employee road risks
- Demonstrating your Duty of Care to employees and the general public
- Possibly qualify for reduced fleet insurance premiums
- Helping those drivers who may be having specific issues with their driving
- Save on fleet fuel costs – advanced trained drivers can reduce their fuel costs by 20% or more
Gloucester has become the largest city in the region now its smaller villages have now become part of the city, such as Maisemore, Churchdown and Whaddon. The A road network surrounds the city’s outer limits, making it easy to navigate through Abbeymead, Kingsway and Quedgeley. The M5 runs north to south Gloucester, and with the main A38, it links the West Midlands to Cornwall. The A417 will take you towards the A419 at Cirencester and the Cotswolds and into Wiltshire, and the A46 will take you right into the heart of the West Midlands, through Evesham, Stratford on Avon, and Coventry.
We have delivered a range of advanced and defensive driver training in Gloucester, including Tuffley, Longford, Hardwicke and Barnwood. The intelligent network of rural, town and faster roads are ideal for training as all roads can be reached quickly during a session. Our driver training sessions are tailored to the driver, and the tutor will have a good knowledge of the area. They will come to you and take you out on the road in your own car or van.
Course Durations:
3.5hour session – half day
7-hour session – full day (can be split for two drivers in the same location)
As our courses are all tailored to the individual driver, we do many confidence and post RTA courses over longer durations, from 2 to 5 half-day sessions, or more if needed. The longer course durations are often for those with particular issues such as driver anxiety, problems with specific roads or areas, and those who may not have driven in many years. All of our courses, whatever the duration, are open to private and business clients alike.
Contact us:
For our business clients, picking up a phone to speak to us may come naturally. Still, we do understand that many drivers with confidence issues find the whole idea of taking any driver training challenging, so we are not only a sympathetic ear, but we can also advise the best course of action and ensure we get the right tutor to give you confidence with your driving. You will not be tied into anything with your enquiry. We want to help.
Our friendly team are on hand to take calls during regular business hours, and we aim to respond to any email enquiry within a few hours, very often sooner. We have a complete booking and payment system on our website; if you feel that you don’t want to talk to anyone, pop in your details, and then we can easily organise a course for you.
Road Safety Risks and Information – Gloucester
Gloucester lies to the west of the M5 north of Bristol, and it is a bustling city central to the Cotswolds, Worcestershire, and South Wales. As a county, Gloucestershire has a very high accident rate, and the City itself is no exception. The main A38 runs through Gloucester from Bristol to the north Midlands, and the A40 skims the north of the City, travelling between Herefordshire and Oxford. All of these routes are heavily laden with accident sites.
Junction 12 of the M5 links into Gloucester from the north and joins the A38 along the A340 Bath road, and there are many collisions found around the roundabout here. There is a small retail and service station there with fast dual carriageways directly into the centre of Gloucester, and this section of road carries a very high amount of traffic daily. Some severe collisions are found on this roundabout where drivers coming from the M5 meet drivers from and joining the A38. Good positioning for exiting and being in the correct lane is vital when using busy intersections such as these, especially when there is a services junction thrown into the mix where slow-moving traffic will try to merge into the traffic lanes. The A38 travels into Gloucester via Bristol Road. It becomes highly residential and commercial the closer it gets to the centre, where the accident rates rise. Ring roads circle the outskirts of the city centre, but the narrower inner-city routes remain very choked, and being shared with bus routes, many accidents can lead to further congestion.
Some of the worst affected areas are the A38 Quedgeley and Cole Avenue traffic light systems, the A430 Hempsted Bypass and Bristol Road intersections, and the Southern Road and Stroud Road Roundabout along the A38. Many of these accidents have been severe and life-changing. Cole Avenue and Eastern Avenue are high-traffic hotspots, especially during rush hours, and this route links to the A417 towards Cheltenham and Cirencester. These are both other high-risk areas, especially the A417 towards The Air Balloon Roundabout, which is a notoriously dangerous route with many severe and, sadly, fatal accidents occurring regularly, which has resulted in some significant road changes taking place.
Most of Gloucester’s centre is pedestrianised, and it is only a short walk to the larger retail centre built on the historic docks, The Quays, along the Bristol Road, and the road leading to it is strewn with accidents.
If you have any specific roads you travel on in Gloucester and you are keen to discover which areas are at higher risk in terms of collisions, please get in touch with us. We offer a free-of-charge service to anyone who is interested.