Mother terrified as Seven Kings 11-year-old gets behind the wheel

Shaan Johal, 11, follows the instructions from Tim Bentley as she drives at the launch of the Young Driver scheme. (Image: Archant)

Keen to see how useful it is for youngsters getting behind the wheel of a car for the first time, Kay Atwal put her daughter Shaan Johal, who has just turned 11, in the hot seat.

The Seven Kings youngster, who attends Farnham Green Primary School, gleefully says she “wanted to go faster” while terrified Kay had to resist becoming a backseat driver.

Here, the Seven Kings mother and daughter describe their quite different perspectives of the day.

Kay

I know everyone says children grow up early these days but I never expected to be watching my 11-year-old take her first driving lesson.

It took place on a specially designed course at the top of a car park at Westfield Stratford City where even at 10am there was a group of parents watching their offspring navigate the colourful route.

There were six Seat dual- controlled cars, each with an instructor.

Needless to say I was nervous anyway and being so high up did not help. Having said that, I tried not to show it.

Tim Bentley, an instructor for 10 years, four of them with Young Driver, would be in the car with my daughter as she went through the circuit.

My first surprise came when he asked if I would like to sit in the back of the car, which may not have been such a great idea in hindsight.

Once inside he took her through the basic checks before explaining the car’s ABC – accelerator, brakes and clutch – and then showed her how to start the car. She stalled twice and then began the first lesson – moving off and stopping. Then he quickly moved on to explaining steering.

She was quickly weaving her way through cones, metal posts and lane markings. It was a few minutes before I realised I had been holding my breath. In the meantime, she was coping with indicators, gears and the other five vehicles weaving their way around the course.

Before he introduced another element, Tim would stop and explain, using his iPad to illustrate the point: for example, speed control.

Meanwhile I found it incredibly hard to sit back in silence without offering advice or translating Tim’s instructions and had to bite my tongue.

Within minutes she was changing gears, steering the car around the car park – “shuffling” the steering wheel, using her indicators. She was fearless and even managed to carry on a conversation with Tim. (She later said: “I was just multi–tasking mum!”).

She picked up the road signs, very quickly.

Several times I found myself holding my breath or looking away, digging in my heels as Shaan approached the fence or got too close to a bollard.

Throughout it, Tim kept control of the vehicle and when he asked if I wanted to get out and stretch my legs, I grabbed the opportunity.

Once I was out and watching I realised I was probably the only one who was nervous – everyone else, Shaan, the other youngsters driving, and their parents – was smiling and my Shaan was driving smoothly, controlling all her manoeuvres.

To crown it all off, she reverse parked. I was so proud of her.

Shaan

I was really excited about my driving lesson as being 11, I haven’t driven before.

Tim, my instructor, was easy to understand when he explained the car’s pedals. He explained things step by step and repeated them as well.

I was surprised at how much you have to turn the steering wheel because I thought you just had to do little movements.

It was fun accelerating and I wanted to go faster but I didn’t. We were on the top floor of this car park and I could see the Olympic Stadium.

At the start I found it hard to get the clutch right but I was OK after two tries.

I used gears one and two and learned that you don’t have to use the accelerator much when you are in gear two. At the end I reverse parked the car like my dad.

I thought one hour of driving was going to be a long time but when I finished it felt like 10 minutes

I’d love to do it again. It’s really cool seeing the Olympic Stadium and Orbit Tower when you are driving so high. I can’t believe my mum stayed quiet in the back, the whole time without saying anything. I think it was because she was so nervous.