About Ian - Your local, fully qualified driving instructor

Ian is very passionate about teaching his pupils best practice - so you're in good hands!

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Ian's career before becoming an instructor

In over thirty years of being involved with transport and logistics for freight and passenger, I have seen many sides of the business. In my lorry driving days, I was involved with farm produce, animal feed, liquid tankers, horses, fresh & frozen food, low-loaders, vehicle MOT preparation and presenting them for the annual test. There was also some extremely specialised medical equipment that had to be moved at extremely short notice; when you get the message the “The patient is in theatre at the moment and will need that bed when he comes out in eight hours time”, you know that the delivery HAS to be there and ferries HAVE to be caught.

Passed driver

The job that changed Ian's perspective on lorry driving

After a while as an owner-driver sub-contractor to a large fresh and frozen food storage and distribution company, I was invited to work in the transport office. This opened my eyes to another side of the business and there are many parts of the logistics business that rely on each other to perform:

  • The hauliers need customers
  • The customers need hauliers
  • The haulier needs lorries
  • The lorries need maintaining
  • The lorries need drivers – good drivers!

What inspired Ian to become an instructor?

It was the standard of driving exhibited by a minority of new drivers that made me want to come into LGV driver instruction. This small minority had received the bare minimum training (just enough to get them through the driving test) and they had been training in vehicles and vehicle combinations that bared little resemblance to what they would be driving when they got their first job as a lorry driver.

The training vehicles use by Ian Markwick Driver Training are representative of the vehicles that are used in today’s haulage industry, so when you have completed your training and have passed the tests, you will have the skills required to drive the lorry that you are entitled to drive.

Our Fleet

Ian enjoys teaching the best practice for driving HGV/ LGV's

Ian Markwick Driver Training was founded on the knowledge that modern LGV (HGV) fleet operators need suitably skilled drivers to protect the investment in their vehicles and to perform a safe, efficient, courteous and professional job. The combination of modern, full size, clean and well maintained Scania training vehicles and your instructor who is qualified to be on the National Register of LGV Instructors gives trainees the best possible environment in which to learn their skills.

Ian is a fully qualified LGV/ HGV instructor!

Did you know that all car instructors have to be qualified to be able to offer car instruction on a professional basis?

This qualification is known as “ADI” (Approved Driving Instructor) and while friends and relatives can accompany learner car drivers (as long as they have held their driving test for more than three years) they cannot charge for this and if found doing so can be liable to prosecution.

How can you become a HGV/ LGV instructor?

The strange thing is, there is no requirement to be qualified to be an LGV instructor! As long as the accompanying driver has held the appropriate licence for more than three years, they can buy a lorry and call themselves an LGV instructor.

What qualifications do I have?

Over the years, my training has been observed, I have passed the tests and have reached the standard to be an RTITB (Road Transport Industry Training Board) registered instructor, a DSA (Driving Standards Agency) registered instructor and now I am very proud to say that I have passed all of the tests and have reached the standard of instruction required by the NRI (National Register of LGV Instructors)!
It was a full day of tests including a four-part theory test - not too dissimilar to the DVSA theory test (but strangely no Hazard Perception test) and a driving test – again, not too dissimilar to the DVSA driving test although fewer Driver Faults are allowed.
The instructional part consisted of three elements: Training for a new skill, Remedial training and Demonstration drive & commentary.
Then, there was a classroom lesson where I was given a specific element of an LGV driver training course and was required to teach from a classroom. I found this the most challenging (but remarkably, the most rewarding) part of the day because, on my courses, I don’t use a classroom to teach in! I resisted the easy option of thirty minutes of “Death by PowerPoint” and gave my lesson on coupling and uncoupling a semi-trailer with just two minutes to spare before I went over the allotted time!
For all of this, I get an NRI ID card, a card holder so I can display the card in the window of the vehicle I am training in and an NRI clipboard & pen. What you as a trainee LGV driver get, is the assurance that I can offer instruction that has been assessed and meets the highest standards of instruction possible. 
NRI logo
NRI pass certificate

Take a look at the list of all qualified instructors

Qualified Instructors