A DEDICATED driver has been hailed by police.

Hugh German, one of the early members of Bolton and District Advanced Motorists, has been recognised by the Greater Manchester Police Driving School with an Outstanding Achievement Award.

Mr German said he was "astonished, pleased and proud" when given the award.

Mr German, a former maths teacher at Bolton County Grammar School and later at Smithills Sixth Form College, said only three Advanced Driving Groups existed in Lancashire in the 1960s.

He saw a police notice for a driving course over four nights so decided to go along.

These sessions with police drivers lit the fuse for his lifetime interest in advanced driving.

He passed his Advanced Test in 1966 in a Morris 1100 and remembers having to give hand signals to slow down at zebra crossings — and because there were no electric windows he had to wind it down first.

Three years later he volunteered after seeing an article in the Bolton Evening News appealing for advanced drivers to set up a group in Bolton.

He says: “The training for aspiring Advanced Motorists was very basic in those days, simply driving your car with an advanced motorist advising you.

"We now run four courses a year — a million miles away from how it was in the early 70s when folks just rolled up ad hoc for some driver training.”

He has spent 45 years with the Bolton and District Group and has been Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and Auditor and he is still events organiser and committee member.

The group now has a structured course with an introductory evening, a presentation by a Police Class 1 driver, a demonstration drive and at least 15 hours of one-to-one guidance in your own car with a trained Observer.

The next advanced course begins at 7pm on Thursday, May 5, at Lostock Parish Centre, in Tempest Road, Lostock.

For an information pack see the group’s website, www.iamgroups.org.uk/boltonam, contact Lynn Jordan on 0161 264 0586 or email boltoniam@gmail.com.