THE Driving Standards Agency has confirmed that the Approved Driving Instructor qualification applies equally to fleet driver trainers and learner driver instructors. As a result, fleet trainers must be ADI qualified if they give on-road instruction, even if their customer already has a driving licence.

This has been a grey area in the past, with a number of fleet training companies claiming the ADI qualification was only required for learner driver instruction. They have said advanced equivalent qualifications such as Police Class 1 are adequate for fleet training.

The Fleet Driver Training Association, however, has always maintained that all its members' trainers should be ADI qualified. This has now been confirmed by Bernard Herdan, chief executive of the DSA who said: 'We have sought advice and I can now confirm that it would be necessary for instructors delivering fleet driver training in cars to be DSA approved driving instructors.'