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Edinburgh City Driving School

4.7(72 reviews)See reviews ↓·Edinburgh

About the company

Edinburgh City Driving School is a driving school owned by Richard Walls and Keith McDonald. Both owners trained and worked for BSM before setting up their own driving school. The school only employs DVSA Fully Qualified driving instructors. It operates across the whole of Edinburgh and surrounding areas.

Its instructors are familiar with both the Currie and Musselburgh test centres. The school offers driving lessons, Pass Plus, refresher courses, and automatic intensive courses. It is currently seeking fully qualified manual and automatic driving instructors.

What customers say

Based on genuine customer reviews

Edinburgh City Driving School has built a reputation among former pupils for the strength of its individual instructors, several of whom are named repeatedly across feedback, including Walter, Filippos, Richard, Atul, Christine and Keith Burke. A theme that comes up often is a calm, patient manner that suits nervous or previously discouraged learners, with more than one pupil mentioning instructors who avoided raising their voice and instead built confidence gradually.

Clear explanations of manoeuvres, along with visual aids and structured feedback, are mentioned as helping pupils understand exactly what needed improvement. Several accounts describe passing on the first attempt, in some cases with very few minor faults, and one pupil completed an automatic intensive course in the Musselburgh area before passing straight away. Support extends beyond practical tuition, with mentions of help preparing for the theory element and, notably, instructor training, as one reviewer passed their ADI part two exam with guidance from a member of the team.

Encouragement and reassurance are recurring qualities associated with the school, alongside instructors described as engaged, respectful and flexible in adapting to individual learning paces. Based at Powderhall Rigg, the school operates long weekday hours from eight in the morning until eight in the evening, with Saturday availability until half past five, offering scope for lessons around work or study commitments.

Reviews

Reviews are taken from publicly available sources.

AA
Amy Alexandra21 April 2026

Highly recommend ECDS. They are very professional and reliable. I had lessons with Richard and passed my test first time.

EM
Eve McCall13 March 2026

I had the pleasure of being instructed by Richard and as someone who has had four previous instructors, I can speak with confidence on Richard's capabilities. He is patient, respectful, kind, engaged, encouraging and most importantly has good patter! He had visual aids (especially for manouvres), helped me with getting practical tests as well as providing ways to study for both my theory and practical tests. He was always extremely flexible with times and locations for pick-up and drop-off. He was the saving grace I needed as a learner who lacked confidence and I cannot reccomend him and his driving school enough 🩷

N
Nan10 January 2026

Passed my test with instructor Filippos yesterday. He teaches calmly, adjusts to my learning style, and always puts safety first. Recommend!

SL
Sofia Lund-Zaina7 January 2026

I was put in touch with Filippos after contacting the driving school for refresher lessons, after 10 years of driving very little and having bad experiences with a driving instructor in the past. I was very nervous and unsure if I was even going to be able to drive, but Filippos was very understanding, kind, professional, easygoing and compassionate toward my fear of driving. Even on our first drive together, I managed to drive feeling safe and working through my fears with Filippos - I can’t thank him enough for giving me the confidence to be on the road again and the kindness and friendliness Filippos showed me. I will be forever grateful! Thank you!!!!

AS
Abhijit Singh6 January 2026

I had a great experience learning with my driving instructor Filippos. He is very confident in his teaching skills and has a strong ability to quickly identify a student’s weak areas and work on correcting them, which really helped boost my confidence. He genuinely values his pupils’ time and money and always gives honest, reasonable advice on what is actually needed to progress, rather than unnecessary lessons. He is extremely friendly and creates a comfortable, relaxed learning environment, which makes a big difference when learning to drive. His mock tests are excellent and very closely match what you face on the actual driving test day. If you can pass his mock tests, you are in a very strong position to pass the real exam. He is always punctual and very professional with lesson timings. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a reliable, supportive, and effective driving instructor. 🚗✅

DS
Deepika Singh5 January 2026

I had sessions with Filippos over a period of time and his availability and commitment towards me passing the exam was throughout. He was very precise and will point out every minor or major mistake. His suggestions in terms of test centre and guidance helped me pass my test quickly. He will go to any lengths to see his pupil achieving success and is very flexible. I am grateful the time and patience he provided me and would definitely recommend him.

EL
eliza L3 January 2026

Filippos was incredibly patient and tailored his teaching perfectly to my pace and personality. He explains things clearly and never rushes, which helped me build confidence quickly. Highly recommend!

Driving schools in Edinburgh compared

Ordered by rating, weighted by the number of reviews — businesses with only a handful of reviews do not jump to the top automatically. 6 businesses in this category in Edinburgh are compared.

RankProviderRatingReviewsOpen Sat.
1Smart Driving Centre Ltd★ 5,066Yes
2Route driving school★ 5,023Yes
3The Edinburgh Driving School★ 4,826Yes
4Driving Lessons Edinburgh★ 4,8100Yes
5Able Driving School Edinburgh★ 4,8143No
6Edinburgh City Driving School (this page)★ 4,772Yes
Contact
+448001123002www.ecdrivingschool.co.uk3/9 Powderhall Rigg, Edinburgh EH7 4GA
Working hours
Monday08:00–20:00
Tuesday08:00–20:00
Wednesday08:00–20:00
Thursday08:00–20:00
Friday08:00–20:00
Saturday09:00–17:30
SundayClosed