In the provincial capital and smaller cities, a significant number of illegal driving schools are exploiting the public by charging exorbitant fees and breaching their contractual agreements. Alarmingly, both the Punjab government and Traffic Police lack comprehensive data on these unregistered centers, which operate without a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the district administration. Reports indicate that these schools demand fees ranging from Rs20,000 to Rs30,000 for a training period of 10 to 15 days, in addition to charging Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 for traffic licenses.
Dr. Altaf Ahmad Yar, who has recently returned from Saudi Arabia, recounted his daughter’s troubling experience with an illegal driving school situated in a posh Lahore neighborhood. He paid Rs20,000 for his daughter to learn to drive an automatic vehicle within 15 days. However, the school sent a male instructor despite his explicit request for a female instructor, and they provided a manual vehicle instead of the promised automatic. When Dr. Yar raised his concerns with the administration, he was told to either accept the situation or seek another driving school. Despite his complaints to the Traffic Police, he received neither a refund nor the driving lessons his daughter was owed.
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Similarly, Nusrat Bibi shared her frustration after paying Rs15,000 for manual driving lessons, only to find that her instructor took a seven-day leave, leaving her with just eight days to learn. Rifat Shahid also expressed dissatisfaction after paying Rs20,000 for driving lessons and license registration, only to have her instruction cut short after just three days. She reported her grievances to the Traffic Police, who forwarded her complaint to the district administration, which had no record of her case.
Mohammad Altaf Qamar, a former Additional Inspector General of Punjab Police, noted that the Traffic Police have shifted their focus to issuing tickets for traffic violations such as lane infractions, helmet use, and parking. He recalled that previously, many illegal driving schools were shut down for lacking registration with the Traffic Police and district administration, but these establishments have since reopened. He emphasized the need for a campaign to regulate private driving schools, bringing them into compliance with legal standards.
Chief Traffic Officer Lahore, Amara Athar, assured that a system of checks and balances would be established for private driving schools in collaboration with the district administration. However, she pointed out that while they receive complaints, applicants often fail to follow up when contacted.
In contrast, a spokesman for the Traffic Police Punjab reported that there are around 130 approved driving schools in the province, training over 5,000 individuals each month. To date, more than 100,000 people have received driving instruction, including 64,000 men, 30,000 women, and over 500 transgender individuals. Approximately 70 percent of those trained have obtained traffic licenses. The official government fee for driving instruction ranges from Rs5,000 to Rs6,000, with no fee for transgender persons. However, they admitted that they do not have data on the number of privately operated driving schools, stating that a new policy is being developed to bring all such institutions under legal oversight.
