A LANCASTER woman is celebrating after finally passing her driving test following 10 years of lessons.

Andrea Hackett has taken hundreds of lessons with several driving schools in a bid to get her licence, but never had the confidence to take her test.

She finally made it through earlier this year, even overcoming her biggest fear - the Shrimp roundabout - on the big day.

"I had a phobia about Shrimp roundabout for years," said Andrea, of Barley Cop Lane: "I couldn't set off there once and all the cars were pulling up behind me.

"Even when I started lessons with my current driving instructor I couldn't handle it.

If he directed me towards the roundabout, I would ignore him and turn off in another direction!

"But on the day they took me to the roundabout and, even though I didn't want to do it, I wanted to pass the test and I did it!

"I couldn't believe it when I found out I had passed, I just started crying.

It still hasn't sunk in yet."

Far from being a local version of 'Maureen' - the star of TV's 'Driving School' series, Andrea's instructor, John Turnbull, insists that his star pupil was a good driver who struggled with her confidence.

"It's really rewarding to help Andrea through her test," he said: "I do specialise in helping nervous drivers through their tests, but I've never had anybody who has taken 10 years to get to this stage before."

Andrea says she used to dread her instructor arriving, and even became physically sick before some lessons.

Now she has directed six of her friends to her old instructor and, even though she is still 'a little bit nervous' on the road, Andrea is taking extra lessons to prepare her for the challenge of motorway driving.

She now hopes to put her driving licence to good use by becoming a mobile hairdresser when she finishes her course at college.