Foot down for new career

By Melissa Meehan
HEALESVILLE resident Hugh Turner is another local example of someone refusing to slow down at an age when many others are looking forward to retirement.
Mr Turner has recently started his own driver training business as part of the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS) that helps eligible unemployed people to start and run their new, viable small business.
The NEIS programme started in 1985 as a government initiative and is Australia’s longest running and most successful employment programme.
Over that time, more than 100,000 people have participated in the programme.
Mr Turner said he approached the NEIS initiative after noticing that there was a gap in community services such as driving instruction and education.
He said that he had realised the need for driving education in the Yarra Valley and being a registered driving instructor gave him the opportunity to start HT Driving Services.
“From the 1 July 2007 its mandatory that learner drivers have to do 120 hours before they get their licence, but a lot of young people have trouble getting that many hours on the road,” Mr Turner said, “especially those living in rural areas.
“If their parents get home from work late there is often little time for driving, so there is a need for someone like me to offer the time to ensure kids get the experience on the road that they need.”
Mr Turner said that his aim was to provide instruction and training to those in the Yarra Valley and to expose learner drivers to a variety of conditions.
“I’m not going to instruct them in a way that they can just pass the test, it’s all about lifetime driving habits,” Mr Turner said.