Learning to Drive in Newcastle City Centre

Plenty of people who live in Newcastle city centre get by perfectly well without a car, and our guide to getting around the city centre without a car shows how. But a licence still opens up the coast, the Northumberland hills and a lot of jobs, and the centre is a demanding, useful place to learn: one-way streets, bus gates, the Central Motorway and some of the busiest junctions in the region, all within a mile of Grey's Monument. Here is how to go from no licence at all to passing your test.

Step one: your provisional licence

You cannot book a lesson or a test without a provisional driving licence. You apply through the official GOV.UK service, and you can do so from 15 years and 9 months old, although you cannot drive a car on the road until you are 17. Applying online costs £34 and the licence should arrive within a week, unless the DVLA needs to make extra checks. Applying by post with a D1 form from the Post Office costs £43. You may be asked to prove your identity, usually with a passport, and you must be able to read a number plate from 20 metres.

Use GOV.UK and nowhere else: third-party sites charge extra for the same thing.

Best for: Apply for your provisional licence a few weeks before you want to start lessons, so it has arrived by the time an instructor has a slot for you.

Step two: the theory test on The Side

City-centre learners have the shortest trip in the region for this part. Newcastle's theory test centre is a Pearson Professional Centre in Suite B on the fourth floor of Tyne House, on The Side (NE1 3JA), just up from the Quayside. There is no parking, but it is a minute or so from the Guildhall bus stops and an easy walk from Central Station or Monument.

The car theory test costs £23 and combines multiple-choice questions with the hazard-perception clips. You must pass it before you can book a practical test, and the pass is valid for two years. Book it through GOV.UK and check the address on your confirmation email before you set off.

Best for: Best for: getting the theory out of the way early, while your lessons are still about clutch control rather than test routes.

Step three: the practical test centres

There is no longer a car driving test centre inside the city. DVSA's own statistics list Newcastle's old Elswick centre as closed, so learners from the centre choose between two:

• Gosforth, Sandy Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 5HB, beside Newcastle Racecourse to the north of the city.
• Gateshead, Waterside Drive, Dunston, Gateshead, NE11 9HU, just across the river near the Metrocentre.

Both are a short drive from town, and your instructor will usually know which centre has the earlier dates and which routes suit you. The practical test costs £62 on a weekday and £75 on evenings, weekends and bank holidays. You can find the nearest centres to any postcode on GOV.UK.

Best for: Best for: asking your instructor early which centre you will test at, so your later lessons can cover its roundabouts and dual carriageways.

Driving in the city centre itself

Lessons in town are good practice, but the centre has rules that catch out even experienced drivers. Our guide to where to park in Newcastle city centre covers them in detail. The big one is the Blackett Street bus gate, which only buses, cycles and emergency vehicles may use, and the gates on Newgate Street work the same way. Several other streets, including parts of Grainger Street and Market Street, are bus-only at set times, so read the signs rather than trusting a sat nav.

The Clean Air Zone does not charge private cars, so neither learners nor instructors pay to drive into town. Expect your instructor to start you on quieter streets further out and bring you into the centre once you can handle traffic lights, lane changes and pedestrians stepping off the kerb.

Driving schools that teach in town

Very few driving schools have premises in NE1. Most instructors are mobile and will collect you from home, work or university, so the question that matters is whether they cover the city centre. These are schools that say they teach in or right beside it.

Neal's Driving School Newcastle

Neal's Driving School Newcastle is run by Neal Nonas, an Approved Driving Instructor working under the LDC franchise, and the city centre is on his list of areas alongside Jesmond, Gosforth and Gateshead. Lessons are manual only, in a Seat Arona, with pay-as-you-go lessons, block bookings, semi-intensive and intensive courses, and Pass Plus once you have passed.

Best for: Best for: a full manual licence with one named instructor who teaches in the centre.

driveJohnson's Newcastle

driveJohnson's is a national driving school whose Newcastle office is listed on Northumberland Street, and it says it has offered lessons in Newcastle since 2005. Learners get a dedicated instructor rather than being passed around, and automatic lessons are available as well as manual.

Best for: Best for: a larger school with a city-centre address and a choice of manual or automatic.

Shift Driving School

Shift Driving School is a DVSA-approved school with a team of male and female instructors teaching both manual and automatic. Its Newcastle coverage takes in the city-centre fringes at Spital Tongues and Sandyford as well as Jesmond, Heaton and the west end. Lessons are sold in two-hour blocks, and it also runs intensive courses and mock tests.

Best for: Best for: learners who want both transmissions on offer and a choice of instructor.

NCL Automatic Driving School

If you would rather skip the clutch, NCL Automatic Driving School teaches automatic-only lessons in an electric Hyundai Kona with a DVSA-approved instructor. It covers Jesmond, Heaton, Gosforth and the wider city rather than naming the centre itself, so ask about pick-ups in town when you get in touch. An automatic licence only covers automatic cars, but most new electric cars are automatic anyway.

Best for: Best for: nervous beginners and anyone planning to drive an electric car.

Checking your instructor

Whoever you choose, make sure they are a fully qualified Approved Driving Instructor with a green badge on the windscreen. A pink badge means a trainee, who is allowed to teach but has not yet passed the final qualifying test. Good instructors in Newcastle fill their diaries weeks ahead, so get in touch as soon as your provisional licence arrives.

Do you teach driving in Newcastle city centre, or know an instructor we should include? Get in touch.