Once young drivers have passed their test and go on to buy a car, they have to pay so much for insurance that there is little left to buy a decent car. The average age of a young driver’s first car is around 13 years old - this is before EuroNCAP safety ratings came in and these cars do not respond the same as the cars they were taught to drive in - who teaches them to drive these cars?

It is a vicious circle and one that needs to be broken before real progress is made. We have already achieved this on a commercial basis by controlling the engine size, the age of car and the level of training; then coming up with low-cost insurance. In many urban areas we can sell and insure a year old small car for less than the cost of insurance alone. That is a frightening state of affairs.

The results speak for themselves. Less than 7% of the drivers on our scheme have been involved in a collision whether fault or non fault and this compares to 22% of drivers not on the scheme. Some of this is down to the car, some down to the additional training but most of it is down to attitude.

There are now 10 car manufacturers actively supporting this project to make driving safer for young drivers, their passengers and other road users and without their support we do not have a scheme.