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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesBritain’s police driving lessons in the 1930s drew on racing expertise, but the aim was not to make officers race on public roads. At Hendon, Mark Everard Pepys, the 6th Earl of Cottenham, taught a structured method for placing the car, choosing speed and gear, and timing acceleration to pass hazards safely. His teaching helped lay the foundations for the Roadcraft handbook.
Who taught British police drivers?
The central figure was Mark Everard Pepys, the 6th Earl of Cottenham, an experienced racing driver who taught police drivers at Hendon in 1937. The Police Foundation traces the origins of Roadcraft to his instruction there. Cottenham’s title can obscure his name: he was Mark Pepys, not a different driver called “Lord Cottenham.”
Sir Malcolm Campbell, famous for his racing and record-breaking career, is also associated with the early training effort. Ward ADT says Campbell first assessed police drivers and that Lord Trenchard later appointed Cottenham. That sequence comes from a secondary account; the Police Foundation’s history emphasizes Cottenham’s 1937 teaching. The accounts therefore support Campbell’s involvement, but do not justify treating every detail of the appointment story as settled.
When did the Hendon driving school open?
Hendon was providing police driver instruction by early 1935 at the latest. The exact founding date depends on what is meant by “opened”: sources give different dates for establishment and opening for business. In a House of Commons answer on 2 April 1936, Mr. Lloyd said the school had been operating for 13 months and that some drivers still awaited instruction. A later parliamentary evidence submission dates its opening for business to January 1932, while MG Car Club gives 7 January 1935 as the school’s establishment date.
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The contemporary parliamentary answer is useful evidence of instruction taking place, but the differing milestones mean it is safer to say Hendon was operating by 1935 than to present one date as its definitive founding.
What did the system of car control teach?
Cottenham’s approach was a method of managing the car in response to the road, not a transfer of racing tactics to police patrols. The Police Foundation describes attention to four linked decisions:
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- Position: place the vehicle appropriately for the road and the hazard ahead.
- Speed: select a safe speed before reaching the hazard.
- Gear: choose a gear suited to the situation and the next manoeuvre.
- Timing: accelerate at the right moment to clear the hazard safely.
The point was to keep those choices coordinated as conditions changed. Instead of reacting late with a sudden steering or speed correction, the driver anticipated what the road required and prepared the car to deal with it.
What did police patrol driving look like in 1935?
A 1936 Commons exchange provides a contemporaneous snapshot. Mr. Lloyd told Parliament that during 1935, 413 Metropolitan Police patrol vehicles travelled nearly 13 million miles and had 19 accidents involving serious personal injury, including two fatalities. Those figures describe patrol vehicles and serious-injury accidents; they are not a measure of every police vehicle, every collision, or a before-and-after assessment of Hendon training.
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Later accounts have repeated mileage-per-crash figures for police driving, but the reported sequence is internally unclear and its methodology is not established by the parliamentary record cited here. It should not be used to claim a quantified improvement caused by the training.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How did the teaching become Roadcraft?
The written lineage followed soon after the Hendon lessons. Former senior Hendon instructor Jock Taylor published Cottenham’s notes as Attention All Drivers! in 1954. The Police Foundation says the first Roadcraft manual followed in 1955, published by HMSO for sale to the public. The principles that began as police instruction thus became a handbook associated with systematic observation and control on the road.
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Sources and further reading
- UK Parliament, Hansard: “Police Motor-Patrols (Accidents),” 2 April 1936
- The Police Foundation: “Roadcraft”
- Ward ADT: “The System of Car Control”
- UK Parliament Transport Committee written evidence
- MG Car Club: “MG on the job 1936–1940”
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