Call Oxford:  01865777676
Call Reading:  01189511782

Call Wembley:  02089009990
Call Abingdon:  01865689232
Call Stourbridge: 01212968881

Company History

What we’ve been up to all these years

Lightning Motorcycle Training was formed in January 2000. It is based in Oxford as a limited company, concerned with provision of moped, scooter and motorcycle training. The three founding directors brought 15 years of motorcycle training experience to this enterprise. Lightning was very lucky to take over the site of a now defunct training school at the Oxford Stadium. The Oxford Stadium has been the site of motorcycle training for nearly 30 years.

The company was founded on the premise of providing reasonably priced and easily packaged training at all levels to the public. Provision was also made to develop a symbiotic relationship with local motorcycle dealers, for both our mutual benefit and to assist the public in getting on to two wheels.

While the product is reasonably priced it was also determined that the level of tuition and equipment should be of the highest standard. This is reflected in the high pass rate for full licences and in the level of recommendation that Lightning has received from previous students. As of November 2017, we have trained more than 28,500 students.

This formula was successful enough to allow for the creation of a second centre in Reading. The Reading branch opened in October 2000, and again had the good fortune to be located at a site that is known for motorcycle training; the Rivermead Leisure Centre. The Rivermead Leisure Centre has all the same facilities as Oxford Stadium, but has the advantage of a prominent and central location. In little time at all Reading has become the larger of the two centres.

2001 saw Lightning consolidate its position as one of the leading training schools in both Reading, Berkshire and Oxford, Oxfordshire. From humble beginnings with two instructors, Lightning now employs fourteen full time & part-time instructors and office staff, as well as several contractors. The years have also seen an expansion of the fleet, with new bikes and equipment being foremost, as well as the computerising of the entire diary and booking systems to improve efficiency.

In early 2002 the company was reorganised with many structural changes to improve its funding and IT. Lightning Motorcycle Training expanded to include sales of clothing and training aids, such as books, videos and CD-ROMs.

2003 saw the introduction of this (hopefully) ground breaking web site, which was intended to give as much useful information as possible. Rather than adopt the approach of merely an advertising tool Lightning has sought to offer genuine help and information to people who visit the site.

In 2006 the three companies that made up Lightning Motorcycle Training returned to being a single company after the arrival of a new investor. We completed the process of setting up an On-Line Shop, On-Line Booking and an eBay Shop. Our customers can now book onto our courses 24 hours a day.

May 2009 saw changes to the motorcycle test such that our very large training areas are now a serious advantage. We can lay out the full Module 1 motorcycle test on both our sites for our students’ practise using timing equipment. This has proved to be very successful.

As with most modern businesses recent years have included social networking and we now have a Facebook page.

From 2011 until present Lightning Motorcycle Training is run by RD Education Ltd as a not-for-profit company. All profit relating from our training activities will now be put back into improving motorcycle training and road safety.

In February 2018 we expanded to include a new site in Wembley, which uses the Uxbridge test centre. 2019 saw us add a site in Abingdon (Culham) and 2022 we opened in Birmingham (Stourbridge). Five site gives significant strength and depth to the company.

After 22 years at Rivermead Leisure Centre we grew out of the site and moved. In January 2023 we built a brand new training site for CBT at Abbey Rugby Club in Reading, and set up a Module 1 training site at Mereoak Park & Ride to the south of Reading. This allowed for better facilities and more flexible training, as well as giving better access to the test centres.

As a company we put the well-being of our customers and employees first. Nothing matters more than people should feel welcome and relaxed while learning important life-saving skills. The comments on Facebook more than testify that we have succeeded.

Safe Riding!