Invasion of learner drivers causing havoc in two quiet Sussex streets

Residents claim an "endless conveyor belt" of as many as 300 learner drivers from over 20 different schools use Ashford Road and Ashford Way in Hastings every week.

One councillor claims some elderly residents have had walls outside their homes knocked down as many as five times - while the dining rooms of others are lit up like a "sci-fi film" each night. 

Councillor Andy Batsford says residents' vehicles are used as "free obstacles" on the roads, which run parallel - and no one takes responsibility when they're damaged. 

The 54-year-old has now launched a campaign asking driving instructors to consider using other areas and taking pressure off the largely elderly population.

Cllr Batsford, who has represented the St Helens ward in Hastings for 13 years as an independent councillor, labelled caravans of five or six learner drivers queuing to practice their parallel parking "comedic". 

“I just got off the phone with one woman whose mother has been a resident for nearly 40 years," the dad-of-two said.

Cllr Batsford in Ashford Road with one of the many learner drivers in the background (Image: Andy Batsford / SWNS)

"They have been a constant scourge since then. She’s had her wall knocked down four or five times by learner drivers. 

“We have over 300 lessons per week on one stretch of road. 

"At some points it’s comical - there are five or six learners driving around behind each other, waiting for each other to do their parallel parking. 

“It’s a working road. Residents’ cars are used as free obstacles. To have your car targeted 300 times by novice drivers makes you pretty nervous.  The roads are home to some of the oldest residents in town. 

“It’s a retirement area. Most of the houses are bungalows. When the cars are doing manoeuvres at night, it’s like living in a sci-fi film with the beams flooding into your front room and bedroom seven or eight times an hour. 

“It’s intrusion six or seven days a week."

Mum-of-two Alice Lase, who learned to drive herself on the road, said her stepdad - who still lives on Ashford Road - is constantly frustrated by nervous learners. 

"My stepdad hates them," the 23-year-old said. "He has to wait every single time he goes out, pretty much, for the learners to go past or pull into a space. 

"I learned to drive down this road. As soon as I told them I was interested in lessons, they asked where I lived. 

"I said 'Ashford Road' and they said, 'Great, that's where we would be taking you anyway'. 

"I lived here for five years and for all five years there were learners on here."

Cllr Batsford has put this poster up (Image: Andy Batsford / SWNS)

READ MORE: Learner drivers are waiting ten months for lessons then six months for a test

Another woman living on Ashford Road, who also wished to remain anonymous, said: "There used to be queues of cars. One time they had five goes parking next to my car. 

"I feel sorry for the learners because they get very stressed. We had a little word eventually and they went off."

One driving instructor said he only took new students who had never driven before down Ashford Road and Ashford Way, before moving on. 

But he added that some "bigger" driving schools kept taking students down the roads, as they're very quiet and easy to drive on. 

"I do feel for residents," the instructor admitted. "There are a lot of us. When one house got burgled, they asked us if any of us had any dashcam footage."

But Lynda, who has lived on Ashford Road for over 30 years, said the learners didn't bother her. 

"Why shouldn't they come down here?" she asked. "It doesn't bother me at all.  They say someone's cat got run over by a learner driver, but it's all rubbish. 

"Sometimes they stop in the middle of the road, but they don't bother me. They've always been here and they've got to learn somewhere. 

"It's really silly. There's so many other things to moan about - like the potholes."

A learner driver in Ashford Road (Image: SWNS)

Cllr Batsford said since he and fellow campaigners left posters around urging instructors to take pressure off the route, there has been a slight reduction in the number of lessons seen on the roads. 

"We’re aware that people have to learn to drive, but we need to take a bit of pressure off this route," he said. 

"Surely there are other routes they could be using? There’s secret damage being done to cars and no one’s taking any responsibility. 

“During the weekend it’s constant. Late afternoons and evenings are the worst. At any time, there’s always three or four circling around. 

“Obviously they are driving fairly slowly - we’re not talking about danger - but cars are being scratched and bashed. 

“I was called to one incident where the car was just sat on someone’s front lawn. 

“It’s the constant nervousness… Are you going to come back to your car slightly clanged?"