Driving instructors in Oswestry and the neighbouring areas have drawn winners as part of their competition to each offer free lessons to one key worker living in the region.

Instructors who make up part of the Oswestry and District Driving Instructor Association have each drawn a name of one key worker who they will offer 30 hours of free lessons to.

The 30 hours includes the lesson time of their driving test, should they be ready for it within the 30 free hours allocated – students must pay for their own test however.

Gareth Jones, chairman of the association, is happy to be able to help some of the key workers who have worked hard to keep everyone safe during the pandemic.

He said: “The interest was fairly steady – I’d say on average about five people contacted each instructor enquiring about it.

“Each instructor has done their own draw, and we have collaborated between us so we didn’t end up giving the same person two sets of driving lessons.

“We’re basically now waiting to go back to work to start those lessons – although the lessons are for key workers, we’re only supposed to teach key workers at the moment if they have a test booked.

“The idea came from the thought of helping people who have worked hard to keep everyone safe throughout all of this.

“We’ve all been so impressed by the NHS and all of the key workers, of which there are lot of who have been keeping shops open, collecting bins – without them all we would have been very stuck.

“It’s nice to be able to give something back to the community as a group of instructors.”