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DIAmond Advanced Taxi Training

DIAmond Taxi and Private Hire Driver Training and Testing

DIAmond Advanced Motorists, established in 1992 by the Driving Instructors Association, has developed a comprehensive taxi-driver training and testing programme, providing a one-stop-shop for the taxi industry and licensing authorities.

Requirements for taxi and private hire drivers to acquire or renew their licence vary considerably amongst the 400+ licensing authorities within the United Kingdom – the DIAmond programme addresses this by providing continuity of driving and testing standards nationally.

New laws relating to passenger transport and the amendment of existing laws mean having to constantly review the changes and how they may apply to licensed taxi and private hire drivers.

Training is provided by professional Driving Standards Agency (DSA) Approved Driving Instructors (ADI) who have successfully completed the DIAmond Accredited Taxi-driver Training (DATT) course, gaining the necessary skills and information to pass on to potential or existing taxi drivers. All DATTs are individually covered by public liability and professional indemnity insurance to the tune of £5 million and £3 million respectively.

The DIAmond Test has been accredited by the DSA and is the only advanced test to use the DSA marking schedule. The test is conducted by DIAmond Advanced Examiners who themselves examined annually by Supervising Driving Examiners from the DSA. In addition to this DIAmond`s own supervising examiners conduct periodic quality checks to ensure uniformity across the country. The DIAmond taxi test mirrors the DSA taxi assessment with a maximum of 9 driving faults allowed but is significantly less expensive. Flexibility has been built into the test, being available within a couple of weeks rather than months and we are looking at including a wheel chair assessment as part of the test, thus saving you, the taxi driver or manager, valuable downtime and the associated costs.

Upon passing the DIAmond Taxi Test, a driver is automatically enrolled into the MASTERDRIVER CLUB free for 12 months and will receive all the benefits of membership, including reduced insurance premiums, regular copies of Driving magazine, discounted recovery, car hire, hotels, car parking and periodic updates on changes in various laws and Highway Code. As a condition of membership a driver would be required to have their driving reassessed every third year, thereby maintaining a good standard of driving.

You may be aware that the national pass rate for the DSA taxi assessment last year was 50.9% (jan`07 to dec`08) and that two-thirds of those who didn’t pass received serious or dangerous faults- It’s worth noting here that just one serious or dangerous fault would be enough to fail a learner test! This pass rate is only slightly higher than the learner rate and is probably due to the fact that as professionals, taxi drivers do not see the need for traing – unfortunately the opposite is true. Any driver after a period of time develops habits, not all good, and would probably not pass the standard driving test again without at least some refresher training.

As a DIAmond Accredited Taxi-driver Trainer (DATT) I am able to provide you with a complete one stop shop for all your requirements at a highly competitive cost:

• Taxi/Private hire knowledge test
• On-line driver profiling, assessment and training (coming soon)
• Driving licence checks
• Passenger awareness
• First AID
• Customer service
• Driving assessment
• Driver training
• Taxi/Private hire test with wheelchair assessment, if required
• On-going support through membership of DIAmond Masterdriver Club

For a no obligation discussion or to book a service please feel free to call and I will be happy to discuss your requirements. You can also visit www.dia-mond.org for further information. I look forward to hearing from you.

Andy Moss
DATT A D Instructor