Oh brilliant. Another week, another round of headlines screaming about Middle East tension and skyrocketing fuel prices.
And what do we get from certain driving instructors? A sudden, heartfelt announcement that they simply have no choice but to whack another fiver on every lesson.
Because obviously the cost of a few extra litres of diesel is the real villain here.
Pull the other one you fibbers.
Let us have a proper look at the numbers, shall we?
Because when you do, the maths does not just whisper, it kinda yells at you.
Current Fuel Prices (March 2026)
Petrol: 132p to 138p a litre
Diesel: 142p to 155p a litre
North East prices sit slap bang in the middle of that. Nothing bed wetting my apocalyptic.
It’s just the usual wobble we have seen a thousand times before.
What a Real Teaching Day Actually Costs in Fuel
Most instructors clock sixty to eighty miles a day.
Let us be generous and call it seventy.
Petrol car (40 mpg) about eight litres roughly eleven quid.
Diesel car (50 mpg) six point three litres nine pounds eighty.
Electric seventeen kWh at home rates four quid tops.
Now watch this magic trick……..
What Happens When Fuel Goes Up Ten Percent
Petrol day adds one pound ten.
Diesel adds a quid.
Electric adds forty pence.
Spread across three lessons?
Thirty to forty pence extra per pupil. Even a thirty percent fuel spike only pushes it to about a pound per lesson.
Yet some instructors have bumped prices by five quid or more.
How convenient. 🤨
The Lesson Prices We Are Actually Seeing
North East standard used to be forty quid an hour, sixty for ninety minutes, eighty for two hours.
Fuel explains pennies. The rest?
Now? Forty five an hour, sixty five for ninety, eighty five for two.
That is a clean fiver jump.
Pure market opportunism dressed up as hardship. Greedy Bstrds!!!!
Supply and Demand: The Bit They ‘Forget’ to Mention
There is still a proper shortage of instructors after the pandemic backlog.
Waiting lists everywhere.
Demand is through the roof.
So prices rise. That is basic economics, not a global Trump fuelled conspiracy.
But blaming fuel instead of admitting “we can charge more now” is just taking the piss.
Some places have gone full psycho: seventy or eighty quid for ninety minutes, a hundred quid for two hours.
At that point you are not paying for fuel, you are paying for someone’s new conservatory.
DrewMatic’s Take (Spoiler: We Are Not Playing That Game)
We have been providing automatic driving lessons across the North East for over ten years.
We have former DVSA examiners on the team who actually know what they are talking about. (Check out our pass rate!!)
Fuel goes up, fuel comes down. Always has.
We will not use world events as a handy excuse to sting learners extra.
Our prices stay fair because we are not trying to milk every last penny out of nervous seventeen year olds.
Simple as that.
The Bottom Line
Yes, fuel costs instructors money. Nobody is denying that.
But the numbers show a moderate rise adds pennies per lesson, not pounds.
So when someone tells you their prices have shot up because of “the situation in the Middle East”, feel free to raise an eyebrow. 🤨
Or better yet, ask them for the actual maths.
Or just come to DrewMatic.
We will tell you straight, charge you fairly, and actually teach you to drive instead of teaching you how to spot a dodgy excuse.
