DRIVING instructors are split over whether it is safe to resume giving lessons this weekend.

On Thursday, the Government made a late addition to the list of businesses allowed to start up again from Saturday. Driving lessons have been given the green light and there will be “a phased approach to resuming practical testing”.

Instructors are expected to have to keep the windows down and disinfect their cars.

But some are concerned. Darren Hearn of Brighton Driving Lessons fears it will be difficult to make driving lessons safe.

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He said going without work for months had been exceptionally hard but he is concerned about the proximity between the learner and the instructor in an enclosed space.

“What we’ve been told is not very practical,” he said.

“We’ll have to sanitise the car after each session and wear masks while we’re giving lessons. I don’t really know where I stand.

“It doesn’t feel any safer than it was a few weeks ago.

“We’ve received very little guidance or industry instructions, and we don’t have that much information from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).”

Some instructors have continued to teach key workers how to drive amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Wayne Fears, from Hove, who runs No Fears Driving School, said: “I’m really happy to start teaching my other learners next week.

“I’ve been sanitising the car and we’re using masks and disposable gloves.

“I’ve been booking pupils back in all day and they’re raring to go.”

Before learner drivers begin their lessons, Wayne will run through a checklist with them, asking whether they have experienced symptoms.

He said: “We don’t have face-to-face conversations in the car – if we need to have a long discussion, we get out.

“I’m really excited to get going again.

“I imagine a few drivers would rather not get back – they might be worried about the distances involved.”

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs last week that plans are being set out to help driving instructors return to a life “as close to normal as possible”.

He said the DVSA would be helping them begin “as quickly and as fairly as possible, in a way that avoids a second peak of infections”. A DVSA spokesman said: “More details will be provided in due course.”