An engineer's apprentice with Thomas Sopwith, Stanley Roberts, was keen to go in for `motoring'. His parents rented for him a small garage at the back of their address in Peckham Rye in South London.

In 1910 he began a motor business instructing people to drive, including tuition on what makes the wheels go round. His first school car was a Dutch built `Spyker' and Stanley's first student was a former coachman who he trained to become a chauffeur. His next fleet additions were a `Richard Brazier', a `Berliet', two `Darracqs' and a `Milnes Daimler' for learner lorry drivers. He moved the driving school to Coventry Street in Piccadilly and gave the business a new name - The British School of Motoring (BSM).

The School's `Popular Course' of `Mechanism and Driving' was co-ordinated with the company's own licensed employment bureau. This introduced students free of charge to `ladies and gentlemen requiring chauffeurs'. BSM was later appointed to run `War Emergency Courses' teaching the Army to drive.

After the Great War they continued to provide dedicated motor engineering courses and in 1925 Stanley established the `Automobile Engineering College' together with a separate company, the Engineering Educational Trust. In 1931 in conjunction with Brooklands Aviation, aeronautical engineering was incorporated into the syllabus and the business became known as the Chelsea College of Aeronautical & Automobile Engineering.

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Up until the Second World War the school undertook all forms of Driving Tuition and Engineering Training. Its engineering shops in London covered an area of over 67,000 square feet. Training Courses included `Automobile & Aeronautical Engineering Training' and short period engineering courses - Engine Testing & Fitting, Brazing; Forge Work & Soldering; Oxyacetylene Welding; Drawing Office; Foundry; Pattern-Making; Carburettor Tuning; Overhauling and Repair Work.

In 1935, the Ministry of Transport called on BSM to help set up a practical driving test. The original examiners, including the Chief were drawn from BSM staff. The first person to pass the new test was a Mr. Beene, who had been taught by the BSM.

Staley hired a contract interior decorating company, Maples, located in Tottenham Court Road, to redecorate the BSM offices that had been damaged in the Second World War. This is how he met, Miss Denise McCann. Stanley, who was suffering from a severe paralytic stroke was most Impressed with the 30 year olds abilities and appointed her as his special assistant.

In 1956 she had become a founder Council Member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. When Stanley died aged 68 in September 1957 she became BSM Chairman and Managing Director.

Described as a brisk and formidable woman, Denise made it her policy to appoint many well known retired personalities from the motoring world and the police to the BSM Management Board. These included Tommy Wisdom, a former motoring editor and author, rally and racing driver of repute for 40 years who was her Chief Executive. Tommy used to walk with the aid of a stick that was rumoured to store a supply of gin ! Retired Scotland Yard Commander Norman Radford and one time Head of the Metropolitan Police Driving School at Hendon was the Director of Training. H. Cecil Orr, CBE who was a former Secretary of the Automobile Association became a BSM Director. BSM's Chief Instructor was Ronald Priestley, formerly Chief Instructor on the Advanced Wing of the Essex Police Driving School.

The training of new driving instructors was characteristically strict and almost totally performed with actual learners on the public road. The endurance was worth it, because each Christmas every member of staff would get a present dependent on length of service and rank personally wrapped by Denise. Gentlemen would receive a bottle or two of something, in the ladies' case, a perfume or cosmetic.

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BSM first began classroom tuition in Schools and Colleges in 1959. On the road instruction was provided for sixth-formers as part of the curriculum at Queenswood and Felixstowe College, complementing the classroom tuition. Pre-driver training was later given to the under-seventeens, on private ground, and in co-operation with State Schools, Local Education Authorities, the Ministry of Transport and the Police. In 1969 BSM collaborated with Salford University's Road Safety Research Unit's research into the effect of learning to drive at school. Fifteen BSM instructors provided the tuition during this investigation. Some 40 pupils were given two hours lessons following 32 hours of classroom instruction.

The Company diversified in the early 1960s by introducing a comprehensive range of specialised courses including the High Performance and GT Courses; commercial vehicle training, `continental conversion' (at Brands Hatch) and disabled drivers training. John Miles was appointed Manager. Typically, he was formerly a senior instructor at the Advanced Wing of the Hendon Metropolitan Driving School and he fronted a BBC Television road safety series - `Master Driving' - He was also a regular contributor to BBC Radio's `Motoring and the Motorist' series.

There were other personalities such as Peter Jopp, who was another distinguished rally and racing driver. He became a Group Consultant to BSM and its associated company J. Coryton Ltd. Morley Richards, former News Editor of the Daily Express was responsible for BSM's Press and Public Relations at one time in this period.

BSM instructors taught Great Britain to drive. Their customers came from all walks of life, including various VIPs, Royalty and such celebrities as Twiggy, Mary Quant, Alan Price's girlfriend Wiffle Donneky, Shakira Caine, (although that was before she married Michael and her name was Shakira Baksh) amongst many, many others.

The company culture and common bond was one of total fascination with motor cars. Their headquarters at 102, Sydney Street in Chelsea were adorned in motoring memorabilia. The impressive cars parked there made it look like the paddock at Le Mans !

In a changing world there was a need to modernise the Company. A financial consortium, Mansion House Finance, led by two industrialists, Sir Anthony Jacobs and David Haddon purchased the company in 1973 from Denise McCann for a figure of about two million pounds. They began a revolutionary transformation of the company by introducing instructor franchising and other incentives. The former Area Managers became Regional Directors who were made responsible for all operations within it. The Tuition Car fleet became standardised gradually towards Ford Escorts, Fiestas and Austin Minis. In 1978, a contract was signed with British Leyland (Rover Cars) to provide mainly Triumph Dolomites and in October 1980, the Austin Metro became the first one model fleet vehicle to be followed by the Vauxhall Corsa in 1993.

BSM's more recent and better known history includes a Management Buyout in April 1990, followed by floatation on the Stock Market in October 1993. In 1998 the RAC bought BSM and integrated it into its Consumer and Business Services Divisions. Lex Motoring Services founded in 1928, known throughout the motoring industry for their specialisaton in contract hire, leasing and logistics services, bought the RAC in 1999. Britain's biggest insurance company; the two hundred year old Norwich Union bought this business in 2005.

Throughout it's history, the British School of Motoring has been recognised as being eminent in the field of driving tuition and road safety and is consulted regularly by many official and non-official bodies on these questions, both in Britain and abroad.

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