Darran Phoenix v The Registrar of Approved Driving Instructors

Facts

The appellant, Darran Phoenix, was an approved driving instructor whose name appeared in the Register of Approved Driving Instructors maintained by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. A 17 year-old female student whom he was teaching to drive made allegations against him, and the Crown Prosecution Service authorised a charge of sexual assault. By letter dated 5 June 2025 the Registrar of Approved Driving Instructors removed the appellant's name from the Register, the reason given being that a charge had been authorised. The appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal, denying the allegations, contending that they had not been proven, and submitting that the decision should not have been taken before the trial had concluded, since the presumption of innocence made a pre-trial removal prejudicial. He also obtained character references, which went into the bundle. The Registrar resisted the appeal, accepting that there had been no conviction at the date of the decision but maintaining that the behaviours the appellant admitted — tapping the student's knee with a marker pen to prompt clutch work, and remarking that she had the same colour eyes as his daughter — fell short of what is expected of an approved driving instructor, so that he was not a fit and proper person to have his name in the Register and public confidence in the Register would be undermined. Before the appeal was heard, the appellant was tried and found not guilty.