Newbury driving instructor Peter Skelton named National Driving School of the Year at the Intelligent Instructor Awards 2024

A Newbury driving instructor is in top gear this year after winning a national award.

Peter Skelton has been named National Driving School of the Year at the Intelligent Instructor Awards 2024.

While attaining such a high accolade is a career highlight, Mr Skelton said one of the driving forces keeping him in instructing is meeting new people.

He said: “It is an honour to have received the award for number one.

“The highlight ultimately is meeting so many lovely people.

“I genuinely enjoy the job and wish I had done it many, many years earlier.

“I enjoy meeting new people and the challenge of helping people to pass their test.

“Sometimes you get people who find it very difficult to learn to drive and to get success with them is a great reward.”

Mr Skelton has been a driving instructor for 20 years and, in this time, he has made his mark on the community.

He said: “People know and remember me and I hear from old pupils sometimes and bump into them and it is great to have built up that kind of reputation.

“I also have little sayings like ‘the bend is not your friend’.

“And people still quote it to me.”

The Intelligent Instructor Awards in association with AcciDON’T Driving School received more than 8,000 public votes this year from driving instructors.

The public ranking was combined with an independent judging panel’s ranking, to determine the winners.

In 2021 Mr Skelton was a regional winner of Intelligent Instructor Awards and finished in the top three for the national award.

In 2023, he was highly commended in the same competition.

In addition to instructing, Mr Skelton gets stuck into other activities and challenges.

He was proud to say he sponsors his 13-year-old daughter Isla Skelton’s football team Newbury and Thatcham Girls.

“I have been doing that for about a year now,” he said.

“I think it’s just a good thing to do.”

He also took part in a national driving challenge for Children in Need for The Big Learner Relay in 2021.

He and a former driving student drove from Newbury to Basingstoke dressed as Pudsey and another bear.

“That was the last big thing I did,” he said.

“Doing that for charity was great.

“In this industry we have friendly rivals and we came together to all support Children in Need and The Big Learner Relay.

“We also have a WhatsApp group [locally] which I helped set up.

“It helps us do things like swapping driving tests, keep each other informed and even share road closures.

“I have formed and built friendships with the other instructors.”