Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Help on offer to get behind wheel

Christine McKay
Hawkes Bay Today·
17 Nov, 2015 05:45 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
A driver's licence is vital in rural communities

A driver's licence is vital in rural communities

Not having a driver's licence is one of the main barriers to young people throughout Tararua finding employment, but youth workers are making inroads by helping them to get behind the wheel.

Employers involved with the Tararua Vocational Pathways scheme, which aims to have everyone up to the age of 25 in a job, have said young people need a full licence, but for many in our community the process cost is too high. But Jeanne O'Brien, manager of Tararua Community Youth Services and her team are taking that journey with our young people.

"We may not be budgeted to help them through the driver's licence system, but it's about keeping it real. This is what our kids need," she said.

"A driver's licence is vital in our rural communities because we've got no public transport."

But, it's not just young people walking through the doors of the Community Youth Services in Dannevirke's Allardice St wanting their licence, adults are also turning up needing help.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, it's not a cheap helping hand, with Tararua Community Youth Services spending $3600 last year to put 46 young people through their learner's licence and costs are running high this year.

And, while the cost of obtaining a full driver's licence adds up, many young people don't even have the necessary paperwork to begin the process.

"A lot of our young people don't have the money, so we either pay for it in full, if we can, or ask our families to koha and if they're struggling they can pay it back at $2 or $5 a time," youth worker Stevie Rangi said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

If the young person doesn't have a birth certificate which has been issued after January 1998, they need verification from a bank account or the Inland Revenue Department, to prove who they are, before they can get their certificate.

"Most kids don't have these and need some form of photo identification, so we do that for them and we often pay for their birth certificate too," Jeanne said.

"Once all these hurdles have been overcome we then organise a youth worker to take up to six kids at a time through to the ihow caravan in Palmerston North."

The ihow caravan programme has a professional team of tutors who specialise in training people to pass their learner's driver's licence.

Discover more

Costs put brakes on driver training

16 Nov 10:30 PM

Driver's licence: Test in unfamiliar area

16 Nov 11:30 PM

Govt 'doesn't profit' on licences

17 Nov 09:37 PM

Funds can get young driving

19 Nov 02:26 AM

"Once back, if they don't have a car to drive, we work with the Academy of Driving."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Whoops: Fresh paint job for Napier city centre ahead of cruise visitors

03 Oct 05:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

New police base to rise in Taradale after old station’s removal

03 Oct 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Nick Stewart: KiwiSaver strategy should reflect your entire financial picture: Nick Stewart

03 Oct 05:00 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Whoops: Fresh paint job for Napier city centre ahead of cruise visitors
Hawkes Bay Today

Whoops: Fresh paint job for Napier city centre ahead of cruise visitors

The fresh paint job in the city centre resulted from an accidental leak.

03 Oct 05:00 PM
New police base to rise in Taradale after old station’s removal
Hawkes Bay Today

New police base to rise in Taradale after old station’s removal

03 Oct 05:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Nick Stewart: KiwiSaver strategy should reflect your entire financial picture: Nick Stewart
Opinion

Nick Stewart: KiwiSaver strategy should reflect your entire financial picture: Nick Stewart

03 Oct 05:00 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP