Young Driver to teach youngsters to be greener drivers

Pre-17 driving school Young Driver will be teaching the drivers of the future how to be more environmentally conscious behind the wheel. Youngsters taking lessons with the scheme will be taught best practice for greener driving – such as a light touch on the throttle and brakes, anticipation to avoid wasting energy and switching the engine off whenever possible.

In addition to this, Young Driver has announced it is to plant 1,200 trees this year to help offset Carbon Dioxide (CO2) produced by its vehicles.

The broadleaf trees will be planted  in the Heart of England Forest, and a further 200 oak trees within its own rural headquarters. To make a positive and practical contribution towards offsetting the combined 191 tonnes of CO2 created each year by Young Driver’s 168 cars, the programme is pledging to plant a minimum of 1,000 trees each year. A tree can absorb as much as one tonne of CO2 by the time it is 40 years old, and Young Driver will continue to plant more trees every year.

Young Driver has also planted a wildflower meadow for bees and wildlife at its nine-acre Warwickshire base and is using the land to provide a rehoming sanctuary for hedgehogs and as a site for owl boxes – which have already seen baby tawny owls and barn owls born there.

In addition, the driving school has stopped the sale of single use plastic bottles at its events and is only using fully recyclable bottles and cups with recycling bins on site. Young Driver also plans to introduce dual control electric vehicles to the fleet in 2020.

Sue Waterfield, head of marketing at Young Driver, said: “Our customers are 10 – 17 year olds who represent the next generation of motorists. The environment is of great concern to them and moving Young Driver toward being a carbon neutral company is a crucial objective.

“For several years we’ve been cultivating a green haven at our head office, and carefully planning the most eco-efficient use of our teams and our fleet of Vauxhall Corsas, but we wanted to do more. We plan to keep planting trees every year, eventually creating our own area within the forest, and we hope it might be something our pupils get involved in with us in the future. All drivers have a responsibility to try and minimise their impact on the environment, which is one of the reasons we want to start teaching our young people the greenest ways to drive from the very start of their driving career. That way, it should become second nature to them.”