Malvern Kapswarah v Registrar of Approved Driving Instructors

Facts

The appellant, Malvern Kapswarah, held a trainee driving instructor licence for six months, from 23 June 2025 to 22 December 2025, granted so that he might gain sufficient experience to pass his Part 3 test. On 15 December 2025 he applied to the Registrar of Approved Driving Instructors for a second trainee licence. The Registrar refused that application on 3 March 2026, having taken account of representations made by the appellant on 6, 8 and 18 January 2026, on the ground that he had not complied with the conditions of his first licence: his ADI21AT additional training record had not been returned fully completed, including all of his training objectives. The appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal on 16 March 2026, contending that he had completed 22 hours of additional training with an approved driving instructor, that his training record had been submitted only two hours late, amounting to a minimal and technical breach with no compromise to supervision, professional standards or road safety, that he had acted in good faith, and that refusal was disproportionate and would affect his pupils. The Registrar's response of 2 July 2026 maintained the refusal and recorded that the appellant had covered only 11 of the 20 listed training objectives, had failed the Part 3 test twice, and had previously held two trainee licences between 4 September 2023 and 3 September 2024. The appeal was heard remotely by video platform.