Driving a Greener Future
At Young Driver we have a social responsibility to operate every aspect of our business as ethically as possible. Our goal is to reduce our carbon footprint to zero, by taking positive steps to drive a greener future.
Off-setting carbon emissions
There’s no denying that driving a car contributes to carbon dioxide emissions. At Young Driver we aim to plant at least 4000 trees a year to offset our emissions.
And you are very much part of the initiative. We run campaigns throughout the year where, for every voucher you buy, we will plant a tree.
Using the latest eco-friendly cars
The new generation Corsas we use for our Young Driver lessons boast Vauxhall’s most energy-efficient ecoTEC engine yet and our next step is to move towards dual-control electric vehicles. We use Shell Go+ to offset the emissions from our driving activities.
Making our driving event days environmentally-friendly
We have stopped the sale of single-use plastics at all our Young Driver event locations around the UK. We now only use fully-recyclable bottles and cups and we have introduced recycling bins on site too.
Greener office
Young Driver only prints on carbon neutral paper including our Drive Diaries, leaflets and internal paperwork. We have also changed all of our lightbulbs to low energy bulbs and we are investigating greener ways to heat our office, the installation of solar panels and other ways to reduce our impact on the environment.
The first electric cars built in the UK with 98% UK components
4 – 10 year olds can drive one of Young Driver’s Firefly Sport cars – the only electric supercars designed and built in Britain from British components! Featuring twin electric motors, the Firefly Sport drives and handles like a real electric car and can be charged from the sun meaning zero emissions in operation! With a seven-hour operating range from one charge, these cars lead the
way with realistic controls, tracking indicators and high-tech safety systems.
They are also recyclable at the end of life.
Teaching driving best practices
At Young Driver we teach the drivers of the future to be more environmentally aware behind the wheel. Youngsters taking lessons with us will be taught best practice for greener driving, such as a light touch on the throttle and brakes, anticipation to avoid wasting energy and switching the engine off wherever possible.
The grass is growing greener at Young Driver HQ
Young Driver’s office sits in nine beautiful acres of Warwickshire countryside. Four years ago, we resolved to encourage wildlife through the creation of a mosaic of habitats including grassland, wildflower meadows, traditional hedgerow, woodland edge, wetland ponds and veteran trees.
We started by rewilding a four-acre space with wildflowers, fruit trees, 200 self-seeding oak trees and the establishment of seven bee hives. Owl boxes in our veteran oak trees became home to tawny owls and barn owls and we have since established an area for the release of rescued hedgehogs. We are constructing a wildlife pond for amphibians, fish, insects and wildfowl, surrounded by a wildflower meadow to encourage butterflies and insects.
We are also planting 4,000 additional trees and hedgerow plants this spring and in the past have supported external tree planting at the Heart of England Forest.
On the remaining grassland our rescued and rehomed animals quietly live out their lives with the six miniature donkeys, two cheeky ponies and eight rare breed sheep providing manure for the local allotment society!
Holly Grange
Holly Lane
Balsall Common
Coventry
CV7 7EB
