When she started driving on her 17th birthday lessons were £10 an hour, the test was only 20 minutes long and you had to master three important manoeuvres.

A lot has changed since reporter Keely Greenwood took her driving exam almost 30 years ago but if she “re-sat” it today would she still be ripping up those L plates? We sent her to find out...

Don’t cross your hands on the steering wheel, reverse around that corner and remember to check your blind spot before you drive off.

These are just some of the things I have told my teenage son as I recently started taking him out for driving practice in between his lessons.

But after chatting to Jeremy Fox, a driving instructor in Kent of 30 years, I discovered only one of these was actually the right thing to say.

It turns out crossing your hands has always been a myth and doesn’t bother examiners at all and reversing around a corner is neither taught or examined anymore.

At least one piece of advice I have for my son still holds true – not checking your blind spot is an automatic fail. So at least I was right on one occasion.

But still much has changed since I learnt to drive in the 1990s.

For one the roads have got busier, petrol prices have rocketed and dodging potholes has become a daily occurrence.

It got me thinking. How have driving lessons changed over the past three decades and what are the challenges today’s youngsters face as they attempt to gain what is an important life skill? And perhaps more scarily, would I still pass If it resat my test today?

When I started driving on my 17th birthday there were three important manoeuvres: reversing around a corner, parallel parking and making a three-point turn.

But it was pot luck which one you were asked to do on your test.

As I chatted to Jeremy, who owns the Elite Driving school in Rochester, I learned, unsurprisingly, they have done away with the rather unhelpful need to learn how to reverse around a corner, as well as, more shockingly, the need to perform a three-point turn.

Rather than the examiner telling you where to go the modern age has caught up with the test and for the first 20 minutes of the 40-minute test, you will either follow a route set on a satnav or follow signs to a particular destination.

“It adds the element of independence,” explains Jeremy.

The 64-year-old says the major changes he has noticed have been the tripling in the number of cars on the road, the state of the highways and the extortionate price of everything to do with cars.

“Fuel went up to £2 a litre recently,” he said. “While the price of copper they use for the repair of electric parts and maintenance of cars has gone through the roof.”

As well as the price of fuel, driving instructors' outgoings are largely taken up with maintaining their car’s reliability and insurance.

Jeremy, who lives in Five Bells Lane, told KentOnline: “I have my car serviced every six months and the hourly rate for a service has risen hugely.

“Insurance is the other cost that has increased massively and there are only a few places you can get insurance as an instructor now.”

Since returning after the Covid pandemic, Jeremy said he has been inundated with enquiries to take on new customers.

There was a backlog of 40,000 tests when lockdown restrictions were first lifted – which they have only recently started to get under control.

“I have 15 people a day asking me for lessons,” he said. “There are simply not enough hours in the day to teach everyone who wants to learn.”

Jeremy is looking to retire once his current crop of students have had one attempt at passing their test as he says his family is increasingly anxious about him being out on the roads.

“They are so busy now,” he said. “Everyone is in a rush. They don’t feel I am safe because of the behaviour of other people.”

I asked whether the increase in potholes has caused a major problem for learners who have to cope with dodging the ditches while navigating their test nerves.

“The examiners make sure the roads they use on the test roads are not littered with potholes,” he said. “If they do come across one they would expect the learner to drive across it slowly rather than dodge it.”

One of the biggest changes for Jeremy has been the recent introduction by the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency of the “Standards Test”.

When I took my test back in the 1990s’ a learner could make an unlimited number of mistakes as long as there were not three repeated minor faults or one major error.

Now you can make 15 minor mistakes before you fail but each minor is recorded for an overall tally against the instructor.

“When it reaches a certain number the instructor has to take a Requalification Test and risks losing their job.”

The father-of-two says learners want to get through to their test as quickly and cheaply as possible and parents often complain about what they might see as unnecessary extra lessons.

He adds: “Parents sometimes think you are doing more lessons because you want to take their money. But you can't put them in for the test if you are not totally sure they are ready.”

And for Jeremy, it’s nothing to do with wanting their money, he says.

“I could stop giving them lessons and have someone waiting to replace them straight away,” the instructor adds. “So, it’s nothing to do with that.

“The examiners have just got so much stricter. They expect higher standards now.”

‘It gives them such freedom and is so empowering’

And he says the reason behind the tightening up is the increased volume of traffic on the roads.

Before I set out on my mini-test, I asked Jeremy the major reasons people fail their tests.

“Not looking in their mirrors enough or at the right moment,” he says without a moment's hesitation. “And speed, whether that be going too fast or too slow.”

When he finally calls it a day Jeremy, who used to work in London, says he will miss the buzz he gets from a student passing the most.

“I like the feeling of teaching someone new skills from scratch and getting them successfully through their test.

“It gives them such freedom and it is so empowering. It gives me a great sense of fulfilment and is the greatest pleasure I get out of the job.”

But what about the inevitable accidents? Has he had many of those in his three decades driving with novices?

“Only a couple,” he admits. “And that’s been people driving into the back of us.

“It’s not the learners that are the problem. It’s everyone else.”

As for me. Did I pass my mini-resit?

“Just about.”