29 January 2025
A 74-year-old AA Driving School pupil from York has achieved her life-long ambition and passed her driving test.
Linda Ning, who lives in the city centre, passed her test on January 17th after just over 5 months of lessons.
Linda, who had lessons from, Nuray Inal, an AA Driving School Franchisee, had been desperate to get behind the wheel since moving from London to York in 2020.
Whilst living in London for over 30 years Linda and her husband, Michael, didn’t see the need for a car as public transport was convenient and frequent. Since making the move back to Yorkshire, the couple found getting around a lot more difficult so decided to take the plunge.
This wasn’t Linda’s first test though. She failed her first test back in the 1970s in a Ford Anglia.
Linda is now looking forward to getting behind the wheel of her own car. She has just purchased an electric Peugeot 208, and is gearing up to embrace the EV lifestyle by having a charger fitted to her house.
Linda Ning said: “Whilst living in London there wasn’t the need for either myself or my husband to drive as public transport was readily available. Once we moved back to Yorkshire it became clear that we needed a car to get around.
“When I’ve been a passenger in someone else’s car I’d always mentally been behind the wheel, now I get to drive for real!
“I was terrified when I first got behind the wheel with Nuray, but her calmness and patience put me at ease, and now I can’t wait for my new car to arrive and to start driving myself and my husband to places such as church or to see my sister in Whitby.”
Nuray Inal, AA Driving School Franchisee, said: “When I first met Linda, she told me that it was her dream to learn how to drive. She was shaking when she first got in the car with me so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
“I had to adjust the way I teach, as everyone learns in a different way particularly if they are a little older. I kept talking her through the manoeuvres and prompting her a lot. We both worked really hard.”
“Having given up learning back in the 1970s, Linda is a good example of people returning to learning years later.”
Older people passing their test isn’t as rare you might think. Last year almost 6,000* people over 60 sat a driving test with 2,039 passing.
*Driving test and theory test data: cars - GOV.UK table DRT111C