Young Driver Reviews 

I've just booked a 60 minute lesson at South of England Show ground for January 2027. I got confused online (Facebook) re booking and decided to just call them myself. The young lady I spoke to couldn't be more helpful and it got booked straight away with very little fuss. It isn't often that the customer service department is so helpful and reassuring. We haven't had the actual lesson yet.. so watch this space.

Great experience. No longer holding at MKM stadium in Hull but alternative at Sculthorpe FC which is fine.
Instructor very good, my son is 16 and will be learning to drive at the end of July. This is a great preparation for him.
Only annoying thing is the customer service questionnaire that does not let you move onto the next question unless you answer.....sometimes an N/A would be relevant so I abandoned the survey!

My son had a 30min driving lesson at Cardiff City Stadium Young Driver. His instructor was Andy in car W214.
Andy was really great. Really friendly at the start putting my son at ease, and made time at the end to share some feedback. He even allowed us to get a quick photo before the lesson got started. My son said Andy explained things really well for the driving tasks in the car. We'd definitely ask for Andy the next time.

One star is too much. We booked a Young Driver experience for our 12-year-old son at Lingfield Racecourse through Virgin Experience Days. Unfortunately it was one of the worst experiences we have ever had. The instructor assigned to my son (Lionel) arrived late and immediately began complaining to a colleague that he thought it was his break and that he now had to do “another one”. This conversation took place directly in front of us, which immediately made my already nervous son uncomfortable. He then swore and made a comment about having “another one he can’t swear in front of”.
When speaking to my son he was abrupt and aggressive in tone, asking if he had driven before and if he was nervous. When my son said yes, he challenged him with “why”, despite this being his first time driving and him only being 12 years old. Once they got into the car, they spent around 20 minutes just sitting stationary while other children were driving around the course. My son did not complete even a single lap of the track during the entire 30-minute session. By the end of the lesson my son came back extremely upset, saying the instructor had repeatedly told him he was a bad driver. This is a child who had never driven before and was there for a confidence-building experience. This was supposed to be a fun introduction to driving, but instead it left my son distressed and humiliated. I would strongly urge the company to review the suitability and behaviour of this instructor, as no child should have their confidence knocked like this on their first experience behind the wheel.

UPDATE FOLLOWING THE COMPANY RESPONSE:
Following this review, the company is responding publicly on Trustpilot but hasn't yet bothered contact me directly to understand what happened or resolve the issue.

While their reply describes the instructor’s behaviour as “light-hearted humour”, I do not accept that swearing in front of a 12-year-old, openly complaining about having to run his session, and telling a child he is a “bad driver” can be considered appropriate in any context. The in-car video also supports this.

Regardless of intent, the outcome was that my son left the experience in tears after his very first time driving. He also did not complete a single lap of the track.

It is disappointing that the response focuses on defending the situation and my reaction as a parent, rather than acknowledging the impact on a child or taking clear responsibility.

I am also concerned that there was no clear or immediate way to contact instructors during sessions. As a parent, I find this unacceptable and it raises serious concerns around safeguarding and safety procedures.

The handling of the situation onsite was also poor, with staff prioritising other tasks (fixing two metals posts and then rude about me in front of my son which was caught on the in-car video), before attempting to address my concerns.

I am still awaiting a proper resolution. Absolutely appalling - zero stars.

We arrived at Lingfield Park not knowing what to expect. But we went home very impressed afterwards. Young Driver Reception is on the first floor of a VIP building with great views of the race course and driver training road which shadows the race track. There were 3 people on reception and they couldn’t have been more welcoming. It was wet and freezing cold outdoors and we were grateful for the comfy chairs and tables provided for spectators in the warm reception suite. Straightaway the friendly professional instructor introduced himself. Our 15 year Fatma was a bit nervous but he put her at ease explaining the dual controls. As their lessons were one following the other he suggested that they sit in for each other’s lesson. I hadn’t expected this and it doubled their learning. Watching the video of the lesson afterwards - boy did the instructor earn his money! It was one hour of intensive driving experience up to 30mph delivered with warmth and competence. I’d highly recommend Young Driver. Even the on-the-day mobile number was answered promptly and they were immediately able to give clear instructions to the venue.

Be very wary when booking with this company. I booked 3 driving lessons for my 16 yr old. He did not enjoy the first lesson at all and said that he would have been better off in a private car park with me teaching him. I emailed Young Driver to cancel the remaining 2 lessons, giving 31 days notice. They are refusing to refund the lessons and insisting that they issue a credit note as I am outside the 14 day cooling off period. This is of no use at all as he doesn’t want to go back. Also, this cooling off period is not made obvious in the confirmation of the booking, the only timescale I was made aware of was that changes had to be made 7 days before the lesson. When you call, you can only speak to a call handler and ‘management’ can only be contacted by email, through the general email address. After 4 working days I had received no response to my email, so I emailed again. Finally, this morning, after another 5 working days, I received a reply. Overall this has been been an extremely disappointing experience in both the actual lesson and the customer service.

Our session was cancelled. But we received the cancellation notification by email after we had arrived.
How about an early phone call Youngdrive to save us a wasted trip ?

Within 10 mins of booking our session 3 weeks ago, we realised we couldn't make it. There is no way to reschedule the session online. Instead they give you 2 options: Call or email.

In 3 weeks, we must have called dozens and dozens of times with noone answering the number given. They say they only answer when they are hosting events but with no way of knowing when that is not do they ever seem to answer this didn't work.

There was no response on any of the emails we sent nor the text messages we resorted to sending.

On the day of the session we finally got a response - which was an automated request to provide feedback as to how the session was.

I took my three children for a driving session and it was excellent. The service was friendly and professional and the instructors were also wonderful. One of my children started feeling unwell and the reception staff were so kind and offered him a drink and snack and a chair to sit on. After a short while the man in charge came and told me that he had arranged for my session to be rebooked without me even asking, meaning I wouldn’t lose the money, which was really kind of him and much appreciated. Highly recommend and definitely will be going back. Wish this had been around when I was young!

Both my sons have done this experience several times and it is has really helped with their driving experience before taking driving lessons on the road and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone with a youngster as it's an investment in their future.

Friendly, reassuring and made the experience great fun

An other great day for my son with Amanda she is so nice friendly and great skills
İt very good idea starts young kids with this company Well done to everyone

My daughter thoroughly enjoyed her first introduction to driving, the instructor gave her alot of confidence and they spent nearly the whole hour actually driving. She is now keen for her next lesson ! Welldone YoungDriver you were professional and courteous and deliver an enjoyable experience !