About Us

A little about us:


Hi I'm Tony Friday,I started Accord Driving School in 2001 married to Steph, the picture is of our 25th Anniversary, we've got 2 great kids, Becky who's a primary school teacher in Reading and Matt who's at Uni in Cardiff.

I joined the Army at 16 and thoroughly enjoyed it for 9 years, since then I've been part time in the Territorial Army (TA), now left in August this year, to concentrate on the driving school.

I started as a Driving Instructor with a big national company but decided to leave after only 6 weeks, due to the poor way it was run. I started Accord Driving School with the intention of keeping to a small area, Falmouth and Penryn, I've managed to achieve this and haven't looked back since. My job in the TA as a fleet manager has really helped me gain other driving qualifications such as my C+E licence (Articulated Lorry's) and ADR licence (carriage of dangerous goods) as well as teaching other vehicles such as Minibus and HGV.

Helping people to learn to drive and pass there test, still gives me a real buzz and a tremendous amount of job satisfaction. For many it's life changing being able to drive, either opening up new career prospects or just having the freedom to go where you want, when you want.





Check Test Report

For me, one of my proudest work moments was achieving a grade 6 on my last check test, not only a 6 but 6 in every box.
I work really hard and have a very high pass rate but it's really nice to have the recognition from a Senior Driving Instructor Examiner.
My intention for 2014 is to put this knowledge and experience to good use and start training the next generation of driving instructors in Falmouth. But still expect to be mainly training learners for the next 5 - 10 years




I like to keep a balance between my work and Family life, most evenings myself and Steph can be seen pounding the streets of Penryn and Falmouth as we both like to run. We've been members of Falmouth Road Runners for the past 13years, and have both run marathons. We play badminton on a Friday evening (not very well, I might add!!!) as well as cycle some weekends when the weather's nice.



Mike Lanyon

Mike Lanyon 

Hello, I’m Mike Lanyon, single, but with five sons and a daughter I have no shortage of family, and I’m pleased to say that they have all made me very proud, as have my grandchildren.

I first started driving in 1969 and passed my driving test in 1973. Over the years I have driven a wide variety of different vehicles, from original minis to 7.5 ton lorries, from Range Rovers to commercial vans towing 40 ft. trailers.

In 2009 I became a driving instructor and started work with a national company. I was covering a large
part of the county, including Plymouth, a lot of my time was spent travelling and I did not get the support with regards to pupils that I was led to expect, and so, after ten months, I left and joined Tony at Accord Driving School shortly after. Life has been a lot different since then.

My pupils now come from within the Falmouth/ Penryn area, leaving me more time to teach rather than wasting my time with too much travelling between lessons, also the support that I get from Tony is excellent. Being able to use the experience that I have gained over the years to help pupils to pass their own test gives a lot of satisfaction.

Away from the driving school I have one main passion……Chinese Dragon Boat Racing.

A dragon boat is a 40 ft long canoe like boat, it carries 16 paddlers, a drummer and a helm who steers the boat, and I help to organise, and run events throughout the UK, helping to raise money for charity.

It began for me in 1994 when I was asked to organise a dragon boat event in Falmouth, in 2014 the Falmouth event will celebrate its 21^st anniversary and is now the longest running dragon boat event in the UK and also a major event for the town, something for which I am very proud.

 

Falmouth “Cornish Challenge” 2013……that’s me driving the safety boat.