Ian’s ‘L’ of an achievement... after 10 tests and 32 years!

AT last: Ian Maunsell — and yes, it's pronounced 'Mansell' — throws away his L-plates after finally passing his driving test.

IT’S taken 32 years, 10 tests and thousands of pounds in lessons, but one elated learner driver can finally tear up his L-plates.

Ian Maunsell’s tale is one of perseverance and determination over three decades to get his hands on a driving licence.

“I just never thought this would happen,” said the 49-year-old dad from Clarksfield, after passing his test with only four minor faults.

Things didn’t start well when as a 17 year old, Ian embarked on his first attempt in 1979.

But his driving career stalled when his one-legged instructor failed to prepare him for the test: speeding on Manchester Road didn’t impress the examiner.

After an 18-month break he had a second crack: “That one was really terrible,” he admits.

“I thought learners could only do 30 miles per hour so I failed for going too slow down Broadway. I was devastated.”

A catalogue of failures followed as Ian, who managed a dry cleaners just doors away from his home, became very familiar with Oldham’s bus routes.

He clocked up more than 100 hours of lessons and three failures before deciding a new millennium would bring him good fortune: “Everything was going to change, this was my time,” he said.

“But I completely lost it, I only got to the end of the street and someone nearly smashed into us.

“I realised I wasn’t destined to drive.”

Even an intensive course that boasted a guaranteed pass at the end couldn’t get the learner over the finishing line, after he’d taken a week off work to tackle his test.

But a ribbing from his grown-up sons and workmates at Oldham’s Lifelong Learning Centre spurred him on to continue and he took up lessons again last year.

Beaming with pride, he can now be seen buzzing around town in his cherished Nissan Micra.

Ian, who had to take his theory test three times because his passes expired, says learning in an automatic would have “felt like cheating”.

He added: “This test was a doddle — I was just dumbstruck when they told me I’d passed.

“My ambition was to be the designated driver, so I took my girlfriend to see Dolly Parton in Manchester and she had a drink, so I drove home.”

Ian, who has just recently moved to Milnrow, is now cruising around all his old haunts in Clarksfield, the roads his friends were tackling as teenagers, while a trip to a Latics match fulfilled his dream of abandoning the bus.