Before police forces were amalgamated, individual forces across the South West region were relatively small in comparison to the five forces that currently make up the South West Region.

It therefore made sense for there to be one Regional Driving School rather than numerous individual ones all trying to deliver the same thing.

This arrangement continued until September 2000 when it was decided to close the Regional Driving School based in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Although there was already in existence a driving school within Avon and Somerset Constabulary, it needed to expand considerably in order to undertake the work previously carried out by the regional school.

The current Driver Training Unit is currently situated within the training wing at Headquarters in Portishead.

It has at present 16 driver trainers, 11 of which are police officers and five police staff.

As a unit we always strive to comply with the latest and best training methods and practices and our training closely follows the "National Occupational Standards" relative to police driver training as set out in:

• The ACPO "Police Driving Manual 2005".
• CENTREX "Driver Training" Guide 2005.