From childhood, I was fascinated by movement, machinery, and the freedom that comes with being on the road. That passion never left me. If anything, it only grew stronger with time.
I have always loved being on the road, and I have always loved more than just cars. Anything with wheels has caught my interest over the years. I hold all categories on my licence, so if you see it on the road, there is a fair chance I have driven it at some point. There are still a few more unusual vehicles I would love to add to the list one day, with the bendy bus definitely being one of them.
My working life has taken me across a wide range of vehicles and experiences. I spent four years as a bus driver, followed by five years as a Class 1 lorry driver, working all around Britain as well as on long-distance runs from the UK into Europe. Those years on the road taught me more than just how to handle different vehicles. They taught me discipline, responsibility, forward planning and the value of staying calm and professional in all sorts of situations.
I am also a motorcycle enthusiast who grabs every — nowadays quite rare — opportunity for a good ride, so for me being on the road has always been about more than simply getting somewhere. It is something I genuinely enjoy. It clears the head, sharpens the mind and gives a sense of purpose that is difficult to explain unless you feel it yourself.
Later in my career, I qualified as an HGV and PCV driving instructor, and that was where another side of this journey truly began. I discovered the joy of passing on my passion for driving to others. There is a kind of job satisfaction in seeing someone you have trained go on to pass their test that is hard to match. Watching somebody grow in confidence, develop a skill for life and achieve something that once felt out of reach is a feeling that never gets old.
That feeling is what kept pushing me forward. It fuelled my drive to continue learning, to keep improving and to master other aspects of instruction. That path led me to my other role at Fast Pass Driving School as an instructor trainer, helping future instructors develop the standards, mindset and people skills needed to deliver high-quality training with the personal touch that makes Fast Pass stand out.
Why Fast Pass Driving School feels different
One of the things that means a great deal to me about working with Fast Pass is the way new ideas are treated. In many places, if you bring something different to the table, especially in a fairly uncharted area of driver training, it can be met with hesitation or politely parked to one side. That was not my experience here.
When I brought forward an idea I wanted to focus on, one driven entirely by personal conviction and lived experience, I did not just get approval. I got proper backing — the Fast Pass way. I was fully supported from the outset, even at a stage when none of us could have known just how meaningful the results would become. Since then, that support has helped lead to some genuinely important learner success stories that every one of us has been proud of.
Supporting neurodivergent learners through inclusive coaching
That area is inclusive driver training for neurodivergent learners, and it is something very close to my heart.
As the parent of two fantastic children on the neurodiverse spectrum, this is not simply a professional interest for me. It is personal. Living that reality every day has taught me a great deal. It has shown me the misconceptions that still exist, the opportunities that can be missed, and the way people who think differently are too often judged against systems that were never designed with them in mind.
That realisation led me to take every SEND training opportunity I could. At first, it was about wanting to better understand how I could give the very best to my own children. But the more I learned, the more it became clear to me that this reached much further than my own family.
I came to believe something strongly: there is nothing wrong with people who have diverse cognitive profiles. In so many cases, the real issue is that the system has been built too narrowly. Whether in education, healthcare or other parts of life, people are often measured against expectations shaped by a very limited idea of what is “normal”. Usually, that is not done out of malice. It is simply the unconscious bias of design — people creating frameworks around the way they themselves naturally think and function.
That understanding changed the way I looked at instruction, and it led me to start researching and developing driver training methods for people who think differently.
For me, this has become a small but deeply personal mission. I want to offer the kind of patience, understanding and tailored support that I would hope others would show to the two people who mean the world to me.
Working with neurodivergent learners is not, in my view, just about adjusting a few teaching methods so somebody can scrape through a test. It is about truly understanding the person in front of you. It is about seeing how they think, how they process information, what helps them settle and what allows them to grow in confidence. It is also an opportunity to look at learning itself from a completely different perspective.
It is not always easy. It takes patience, reflection and a willingness to try different approaches, sometimes several times over, until you find the one that fits that individual properly. But when learners see that effort, when they realise they are not being forced into somebody else’s mould, they often begin to open up. That is when the real relationship starts to form, and from there it becomes possible to build a genuinely positive learning environment together.
In my experience, that is often where something powerful happens. A condition that may once have felt like a disadvantage can begin to be understood differently. With the right support, the right mindset and the right coaching approach, it can become a strength — even a kind of driving superpower.
I know I am not going to change the world on my own. But if I can make a positive difference in somebody’s life, help open doors that once felt unreachable, or simply help someone believe in themselves again after being told they never would, that matters deeply to me. That is a big win in my eyes.
And perhaps enough of those wins, one person at a time, can help change things for the better.
At Fast Pass Driving School, I bring with me years of professional driving experience, a genuine love of the road and a real commitment to helping people succeed. Whether I am working with learners, training future instructors or supporting somebody who simply needs to be coached in a way that works for them, I am proud to do it with purpose.
Because for me, driving has never only been about vehicles or roads. It has always been about freedom, growth, possibility — and now, helping others find those things for themselves.
