Southampton has lost ​one in 10 driving instructors over the last eight years, figures show.

The Approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council said the reasons for the number of instructors across Great Britain falling by more than 10% can be traced back to the last recession.

Figures from the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicles Standard Agency show there were 391 Approved Driving Instructors in Southampton's SO postcode areas in June.

This was 11% fewer than the 437 in June 2012, the earliest year figures are available.

Across Great Britain, the number of instructors has fallen from 46,276 to 38,690 over this period – a drop of 16%.

The ADINJC said the decline in numbers could be linked to the effects of the 2008 recession.

Sue Duncan, general secretary of the organisation, said training companies took advantage of this time to attract new drivers to the industry – particularly those with lump-sum redundancy money and an interest in being self-employed.

She said this created what many felt was an "oversupply" of ADIs, with numbers peaking around 47,000.

She added: "The business model was making money from training ADIs, but there wasn't the work available to sustain continually increasing numbers of ADIs so many left.

"In our view, subsequently many left the industry after having to lower prices in order to compete in a crowded market. What we have seen in the reduction in the numbers of ADIs is the market readjusting itself."

She said many instructors may have retired instead of retraining to teach the challenging coaching method introduced by the DVSA.

Some may also have been reluctant to increase prices to keep up with rising vehicle and insurance costs.

The number of instructors across Great Britain has also decreased slightly during the coronavirus pandemic this year, from 39,500 in March to 38,700 in June.

In Southampton's postcode areas, numbers fell from 400 to 391 over this time.

Peter Harvey, national chairman of the Motor Schools Association of Great Britain, said: "The Covid-19 pandemic and the lengthy time driving instructors were not allowed to work has had a big impact on our profession.

"Many instructors had to look for other ways to bring in an income to support their families, many have just decided it's just too risky to sit in an environment where we are so close to our students and simply decided to retire early from the profession.

"We are now in uncertain times again across the country, with the possible threat of further lockdowns, circuit-breaks, where it is possible even more good instructors will feel the need to change professions to survive."

A DVSA spokesman said: “DVSA is committed to helping keep everyone safe on Britain’s roads – the standards we set for driving instructors play an important role in that.

“Applications from people wanting to become a driving instructor have nearly doubled recently and we are confident there is a good supply to teach learner drivers to the highest standard."