THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR DRIVER, 73

By Richard Wright - Friday, March 9, 2007

Winifred Lewis, 73, takes off her L-plates after passing her driving test. Picture by Peter Boam.

HAVING reached an age when many would be thinking of hanging up their driving gloves, 73-year-old Winifred Lewis has just passed her test.
At the third attempt, Win sailed through and was complimented by the examiner and her instructor, John Thomas, who piloted her through 18 months after she started lessons with him.
John, who has run the Newport-based Red Dragon School of Motoring for ten years, said: “Win has had about 70 hours of lessons and is a very, very good driver and an inspiration to anyone.
“It is a great achievement and, as the examiner said, the high standard of her driving would put many 17-year-olds to shame.
“I’ve never had a pupil in their seventies come to me before. People in their forties can be daunted by taking up driving let alone when they have reached 73.”
Win, from Sandcroft Avenue, Ryde, who went solo in her automatic Renault Scenic for the first time on Monday, said: “I failed my first test in Kent in 1961 and my next test was cancelled. By the time the next date came through, I was so heavily pregnant I couldn’t get behind the wheel.
“In 1995, when I was assistant manager at Osborne Cottage residential home, I failed a second time and I decided to start again when it became clear that my husband would have to give up driving.
“I drove up to Northampton perfectly happily when I was learning, keeping off the motorways, of course.
“Passing my test has given us our independence back.”

THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR DRIVER, 73

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