Around 18 months ago a giant of a guy walked across our training school car park and asked if it would be possible for me to help him become independently mobile on a bike as he generally had to walk everywhere.
At 6' 11" with exceptionally long legs he'd found 4 wheels to be impractical as firstly he can't fit in any car and secondly once modified, his insurance would be at least £4k a year so after 10 years of trying to find a solution he came to us.
I took an immediate liking to Liam and agreed to make getting him mobile a mission.
High on the autistic spectrum plus dyslexia and several other difficulties had put obstacles throughout his life but after years of advice from my wife who specialises in these areas had not only helped me understand how my own communication should accommodate him but I'd grown to love these challenges.
He bought a 40 year old Trike and shifted the pillion seat to use as the rider's plus a whole host of modifications.
What followed was 12 months of wrangling with the DSA who couldn't agree whether it was a car or bike test, eventually a modified Mod 1 test was arranged at the beginning of this week, a revised training program to suit his needs and of course I had to learn how to ride the flipping thing to understand any other obstacles he faced.
I'm 6ft tall and sitting right at the front of the seat I can just about depress the clutch pedal.
So after all our lessons together we were ready for his Mod 1 test last Monday, it needed to be a double slot with 2 examiners who were both as excited as I was, they'd never tested a trike before and of course had no idea what they were about to be faced with.
It was a perfect clean pass and I must have had something in my eye when the examiner gave him the outcome.
Today we had an intense 4 hour lesson and then the moment of truth, I had a quick heads up with the examiner who also needed to fill out reams of extra paperwork for what was deemed a disabled test.
A pass will change his life, he works as an agency carer but of course cannot get to work, next week he's off to Middleborough to Uni to begin his 2nd degree with no chance of a retest until he can get back here around xmas.
The next 40 minutes were like waiting outside a maternity ward, I never wanted a deserved pass this much in 12 years of being an instructor.
The result?
Go Liam!!
At 6' 11" with exceptionally long legs he'd found 4 wheels to be impractical as firstly he can't fit in any car and secondly once modified, his insurance would be at least £4k a year so after 10 years of trying to find a solution he came to us.
I took an immediate liking to Liam and agreed to make getting him mobile a mission.
High on the autistic spectrum plus dyslexia and several other difficulties had put obstacles throughout his life but after years of advice from my wife who specialises in these areas had not only helped me understand how my own communication should accommodate him but I'd grown to love these challenges.
He bought a 40 year old Trike and shifted the pillion seat to use as the rider's plus a whole host of modifications.
What followed was 12 months of wrangling with the DSA who couldn't agree whether it was a car or bike test, eventually a modified Mod 1 test was arranged at the beginning of this week, a revised training program to suit his needs and of course I had to learn how to ride the flipping thing to understand any other obstacles he faced.
I'm 6ft tall and sitting right at the front of the seat I can just about depress the clutch pedal.
So after all our lessons together we were ready for his Mod 1 test last Monday, it needed to be a double slot with 2 examiners who were both as excited as I was, they'd never tested a trike before and of course had no idea what they were about to be faced with.
It was a perfect clean pass and I must have had something in my eye when the examiner gave him the outcome.
Today we had an intense 4 hour lesson and then the moment of truth, I had a quick heads up with the examiner who also needed to fill out reams of extra paperwork for what was deemed a disabled test.
A pass will change his life, he works as an agency carer but of course cannot get to work, next week he's off to Middleborough to Uni to begin his 2nd degree with no chance of a retest until he can get back here around xmas.
The next 40 minutes were like waiting outside a maternity ward, I never wanted a deserved pass this much in 12 years of being an instructor.
The result?
Go Liam!!