A DRIVING school has denied claims its instructors took beginner drivers out on icy roads in South Woodford.

Claims have been made by residents of the Firs Estate that driving schools have allowed instructors to take beginners out to practise manoeuvres outside their homes.

A spokesman for the Yellow School of Motoring said: “We usually use main roads and they are all clear at the moment.

“It will only be students who are really able to handle a car in South Woodford.”

Mum-of-two Lisa Quinn, 41, said she had seen, among others, pupils from the Yellow School of Motoring, based in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, driving on roads covered with sheet ice following recent sub-zero temperatures.

Mrs Quinn said she saw learners from other schools out practising manoeuvres on the estate as recently as this morning and that conditions remain icy.

She also said she had seen one trainee motorist practising three-point turns outside her parents' home on the estate on Christmas Day.

Residents of the estate have been campaigning to ban learner drivers from their area for a decade but have been told by the council “access only” signs will not be installed as they would be too difficult to enforce.

Eddie Blackwell, 75, who has been leading the campaign, has said residents plan to write to the secretary of state for transport about the issue.