Recent Events

Recent Events across Monmouthshire

Pass Plus Cymru, Abergavenny Fire Station

Amongst the Pass Plus-ers, for the first time in Monmouthshire, two brothers signed up together for Pass Plus Cymru (PPC) – not so much sibling rivalry for Ashley and Ieuan John, as sibling encouragement.

It could be said that people who sign up for PPC don’t see the driving test as the end of their training . . .

. . . A Driving Examiner was heard talking about a teenager who had just driven an almost perfect test. "He made his only mistake," said the driver tester, "when he stopped to let me out of the car." After breathing a sigh of relief, he exclaimed: "I´m sure glad I don´t have to drive like that all the time!"

This highlights the point that, generally, young drivers learn the basic skills of driving very quickly and with one intention – to pass their driving test. After that, it could be said the “law of the concrete jungle” prevails.

BRAKE, the road safety charity says “one in five new drivers has a crash within six months of passing their test.” This fact is the very reason drivers are encouraged in Monmouthshire to take a (PPC) course.

The young drivers shared their experiences which added weight to the fact that young drivers are involved in a disproportionately high occurrence of collisions.

One young driver, “Josh”, gave his own very honest account in his personal story. As a result of a speeding incident, he had a near-fatal collision just two weeks after passing his test

“I thought I was the boy”, Josh said. “Knew what I was about. I’d passed the test and that’s it”.

Like many others in hindsight, he admitted to feeling wiser after such a close call.

But the action wasn’t just taking place inside the Fire Station. While the PPC workshop was going on, the Young Fire Fighters were being put through their paces outside

Strange to think that if they do join the Fire Service, a big part of their job won’t be fire fighting, but attending Road Traffic Collisions, just like the one Josh had.