Wales Young Driver Challenge reaches climax

The final phase of the Wales Young Driver Challenge took place at Bridgend on Sunday 27 June. The eight finalists underwent a morning of driver training with South Wales Police driving instructors, including a skidpan session, before entering the lottery to win a new car.

After lunch all eight randomly selected a key from Dr Brian Gibbons, Welsh Assembly deputy minister for economic development and transport. Each driver subsequently lined up next to one of eight Daewoo Matiz cars and following a countdown tried to unlock the car.

Only one key worked - and lucky winner Cerys Broome (see pic) of Newport drove off in her brand new car, which comes with a three year warranty, three years free servicing, three years free AA Roadside cover and one year's insurance. The self-employed vocalist had her own car stolen in April.

"I’m absolutely over the moon," said Cerys. "It has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one I would definitely recommend to anyone out there who didn’t enter this year. The programme teaches you so much about road craft – what to do, what not to do and most importantly what to be aware of on the road and how to anticipate the mistakes of other drivers."

The Wales Daewoo Young Driver Challenge was launched in January and invited young drivers aged between 17 and 24 to take part in this new driver training initiative. Over 1100 young people entered phase 1 (knowledge based entry form), with over 400 undertaking the phase 2 training day (theory/practical). 44 were subsequently selected to progress to phase 3 - a 90-minute personal driving session with a RoSPA ADI. The eight finalists were selected from phase 3.

The seven runners-up will enjoy the use of a Matiz for a week and all eight finalists will be guests of the Wales GB Rally in September.

For further information contact sbaker@rospa.com.