Cloud Driving School

11/08/2026

For those just starting out in the amazing journey of learning to drive.

I only teach automatic these days, as it is the way the market place is going. Last year (2025) 83% of new cars sold were automatic.

It is a calmer way to drive on today’s crowded roads.

Apply for your first provisional driving licence from DVLA online to drive a car, motorbike or moped.

28/07/2026

Congratulations to Lauren of Stroud who passed her driving test FIRST time today with 1 driving fault.
Great work, well done and enjoyed our lessons. Thank you. Enjoy the extra freedom here. The Examiner said it was a nice drive!

26/07/2026

This is very true and copied from a colleague.

This something I wrote a few years ago
Feel free to share or copy and paste.
(John Hugh’s Driver Training Consultant)

As a Driving Instructor for nearly 40 years, there’s something that has always annoyed me.
How old do you think your children are when they start learning to drive.
Most of you will say 17.
Wrong. It’s from the age of about 3 or 4. Yes that’s correct. They are your passengers. They often watch what you do, say and act. So they are forming attitudes about road safety from a very early age. Where are these attitudes coming from.
When they are 17 you entrust them with us to help them pass their test. BUT, it’s not just about passing their test. It’s about developing safe and careful drivers. Between the ages of 17 & 25 they are most vulnerable due to the brain not having matured fully. This age group make up a small percentage of the nations drivers but are involved in over 20% of the nations fatal RTC’s.
The majority of this is down to attitudes that are formed over many years from that young age.
Yet a lot of parents are more concerned with the cost of lessons and how many their child will need. Many are not interested in the safety aspect of learning to drive. Just the cost. What price a life or lives.
On average it cost around £2000 to learn to drive. For some it’s more and for some it’s less.
So for that price you would like us to create safe and considerate drivers. And many of us do.
I’m proud of my record.
So let’s say we are talking about 40 hours on average. In that time apart from actually learning to drive correctly and safely, we also possibly have to try and change an attitude to risk that has built up over at least 10 years.
This attitude generally comes from you.
So the next time you drive too close to the vehicle in front.
Do a dodgy overtake
Exceed the speed limit
Be an amber gambler
Run a red light
Use the phone while driving
Start moaning and swearing about the driver in front.
JUST THINK FOR A MOMENT.
This behaviour and attitude is rubbing of on your child. And they will see it as normal behaviour.
So please help us to help you children become safe drivers.

16/07/2026

Really well done to Libby of Stroud today who passed her driving test this afternoon with just 2 fault. She thought the Examiner was lovely.

You put in a lot of hard work and I am proud of you. Shall miss the humour and setting the world (& football) to rights🤣.

Stay safe and enjoy your car.

16/07/2026

Very true.

Are We Asking Too Much of Driving Instructors… or Just Not Understanding the Job?

Everyone thinks they know what we do.
Sit there.
Give directions.
Get someone through a test.

Simple.
That version of the job does not exist anymore.

Every lesson is pressure.
Real roads.
Real risk.
Real consequences.

We are not just watching traffic.
We are predicting it.
Preventing it.
Intervening in seconds when it goes wrong.

And at the same time…
We are managing anxiety.
Panic.
Overthinking.
Confidence that disappears mid-roundabout.

We are adapting for neurodivergent learners.
Rebuilding people after collisions.
Supporting adults who have not driven in years.
Sitting beside someone whose hands are shaking before the engine even starts.

But here is the part no one talks about.
We are expected to do all of that…
calmly…
consistently…
professionally…

While the world outside the car gets worse.
🚘 Costs rising
⏰ Test delays stretching months
📱 Drivers distracted and impatient
🧠 Learners under more pressure than ever

And still…
People think we are “just instructors.”

No.
We are risk managers.
We are decision makers.
We are the barrier between a mistake and a collision.

And most of it goes unseen.
So next time you get frustrated behind a learner car, ask yourself this:

Would you want that responsibility?
Would you want to sit there, knowing one missed moment could change everything?

This is not just a job anymore.
It is responsibility at a level most people will never experience.

It deserves more respect than it gets.

Please tag and share do not copy and paste my posts 🫶🏾
Sheena Ahmed
Motorvation School of Motoring

07/07/2026

By 2040, 40% more children could be killed each year. Reason, larger and larger cars. I
—
‘Carspreading’: cars continue to grow in size

The average size of newly-sold cars keeps increasing every year. According to a new analysis of data covering the EU,
UK and Norway by T&E and Clean Cities:
● The average length of new cars keeps increasing by 1.2 cm a year, and
● Their average height keeps rising by 0.5 cm a year.
These new findings complement previous work showing that new cars keep getting 0.5 cm wider every year (2024),
and that bonnet height keeps increasing by 0.5 cm every year (2025).
Car size at a crossroads: the current ever-bigger trend v. vehicle right-sizing
This study compares two scenarios for car dimensions over the period 2026 to 2040.

Under the prevailing
ever-bigger trend (‘Current trend’), the average size of new cars continues to increase in line with trends since 2000.
Under a more balanced scenario (‘Right-sizing’), the average size of new cars steadily returns to 2015 levels. Key
findings for the period 2026 - 2040:
● Parking: Cities are set to lose 8.5% - 14% of their end-to-end on-street parking spaces by 2040 if the current
ever-bigger trend prevails
● Safety: There are around 2,600 additional deaths of vulnerable road users by following the current ever-bigger
trend, including 79 children. (By 2040, the increase in deaths of children walking widens to 40%.)
● Electricity: By 2040, the current trend would require an additional 22.5 TWh a year, comparable to 1,500 more
onshore wind turbines (compared to Right-sizing), increasing annual household charging bills by €7 billion.

Policy action to curb ever-bigger cars:
01 Cap bonnet height in new cars at 85 cm, and limit width to 192 cm (EU level, and UK)
02 Add vehicle dimensions to vehicle registration certificates (national governments / EU)
03 Ensure that regulatory advantages only go to small electric cars (not longer than 4.2 metres)
in revising car CO2 law (EU)
04 Rate the vision of children from the driver’s seat of new cars (Euro NCAP), and apply a Child
Vision Standard in law (EU, and UK)
05 Vary car taxes and parking charges by dimensions (national governments, and cities)

07/07/2026

What a brilliant card -

sent from one of my clients who passed first time recently.

Things like this, make the job so worthwhile.

06/07/2026

Congratulations to Lewis of Nailsworth who passed his driving test FIRST time today. You put so much effort into this and deserve the great result. You held it together and put in a good drive. Really enjoyed our lessons, great rapport. Enjoy the freedom and dreams and stay safe.

20/06/2026

CHANGES TO BOOKING YOUR PRACTICAL DRIVING TEST WITH THE DVSA

The rules for booking and managing car driving tests have now changed. Find out what the new rules are and how they affect you.

02/06/2026

Congratulations to Ivory of Cirencester who passed her test this afternoon FIRST time with 3 driving faults. A comment of a ‘nice little drive’ from the Examiner as well.

You have worked hard for this and especially having A level exam yesterday and another tomorrow- talk about a tough time!

But you nailed it. So pleased for you. Really enjoyed our lessons-

All the best for the exam tomorrow , stay safe and see you out on the roads.