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Private lessons to help expatriates steer towards gaining a British driving licence are now being offered on the island ... in the first kind of course ever offered outside of the UK.
Experienced instructors are conducting private weekend classes on the 'part one, theory test' of the British Driving test at the British Club of Bahrain and the Dilmun Club in Saar.
The two-hour weekend morning classes run over a period of five-weeks. The courses run consecutively and organisers plan to cover the entire syllabus over an academic year.
Students will be following sequenced courses from the Highway Code and Beginners Awareness to Hazard Perception as per the UK's Driving Standard Agency (DSA) and British School of Motoring's (BSM) curriculum.
The courses are being organised by Dr Laurence Brown, managing director of Designersbox.co.uk from Saar. A photography teacher who runs an animation services website, Dr Brown, 51, who has Grade 5 instructing experience in the UK, said: "With the support of the British Embassy we have been in discussion with the director of the UK's Driving Standards Agency to facilitate the UK's first off-shore 'part one theory testing station' here in Bahrain.
"We will be utilising BSM and DSA materials with video and online learning to stimulate discussion, awareness and strategies. You need to consolidate the theory in-car driving before you begin driving and this exam needs to be passed before applying for the practical test.
"For students who hold a provisional driving licence we are hoping to offer in-car tuition with British instructors for basic control, clutch and gear co-ordination and manoeuvres."
The theory part one test is a set of 50 questions that covers the entire curriculum and is taken online in an invigilated environment.
Dr Brown is hopeful of extending the theory tuition to practical aspects of driving by recruiting local instructors who could give practical driving instruction to help students prepare for the British driving test.
He said: "Everything else except the side of the road we drive on is identical. The Highway Code, road signs and road markings are identical. The sequence of traffic lights, zebra crossing and parallel crossing are all British."
Interested students can register with the club reception areas. Classes at BD10 per hour are held on Saturday. For more information email Dr Brown at dsapart1@gmail.com
Residents of Great Britain can apply online for a British provisional driving licence if they meet the minimum age requirement and have a valid UK passport or another form of identity.
Drivers who have moved to the UK having been permanently resident in another state of the European Economic Area/ European Commission must normally have been resident in the UK for 185 days in the 12 months prior to the application for a driving test and a full licence. Further details are available on www.direct.gov.uk
