Young carer and learning to drive

Vanna

 Hi my name is Vanna  I am 19 yrs old and live near Manchester .    Here is my question  Both my father and my brother are disabled  my father has a Motability car and is the only one of us that can drive.
Over  the last 6 months during Covid both of them have been shielding and I have become the primary Carer for the family, especially with the everyday things that invoke travel such as shopping  etc.  My father has been saying that I should learn to drive so that I could drive his Motability car for transport and that would work better for us as a family .     I want to learn but the cost is the barrier . Could anyone tell me if there is anywhere that might help with the cost Of driving lessons for a young carer to learn to drive ???

Thanks for taking time to read   .  Vanna 

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

Do you claim a disability benefit yourself, such as PIP Enhanced mobility or DLA high rate mobility? If you do then motability will pay for your driving lessons. https://www.motability.org.uk/grants/charitable-grants-available/driving-lessons

There's some other links here that maybe useful. https://www.drivingmobility.org.uk/information/first-time-drivers/help-with-funding-driving-lessons/

https://carers.org/grants-and-discounts/introduction

Have you also had a carers assessment? If not then you can refer yourself for this by contacting your local council. https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/practical-support/getting-care-and-support/carers-assessment

66Mustang

It may also be worth making sure you will be allowed to drive the Motability car your father has. People under 25 are restricted to cars with 120 horsepower or less AND in insurance group 16 or less.

Good luck

atlas47

Hi @Vanna

A very warm welcome.

Please consider calling Carers UK helpline on tel:0808 808 7777 (Mon to Fri-9am to 6pm).

Ask if they know of any funding that meets your needs and also consider contacting your local council, for a Carers Assessment.

Check if there is local Carers support group, near where you live.

Its a matter of digging around, so be patient.

Hope this helps.

Tori_Scope

Welcome to the community @Vanna Has the above advice helped? 

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community glad you have joined if you manage t get to learn to drive it may be worth buying a car using the family nobility money

There are a lot of restrictions about using another persons mobility car like age, must also only be used for purpose of disabled person eg driving them, or shooing etc it can not be used for personal use. It must also be kept at the disabled persons address

Chloe_Alumni

Welcome to the community @Vanna, how are you doing?