Driving instructor on trial for sexual assaults

A driving instructor went on trial yesterday accused of sexually assaulting 15 of his students during their lessons.

Neil Addison is alleged to have groped a series of young women during driving lessons he was conducting in the Fife area over the course of more than three years. Five of his alleged victims gave evidence at Dundee Sheriff Court on the first day of his trial.

Two of the girls told how over the course of a series of lessons Addison had started out touching them on the knee – before gripping the tops of their thighs after becoming more “comfortable”.

One alleged victim said she had refused to get back in a car with him after the first time he touched her.

Others said they only persisted with their lessons with him because they’d already booked their driving tests and paid for blocks of lessons.

One of the women, who cannot b e named for legal reasons, told the court she started lessons with Addison in March 2016. She said he was “friendly enough” in the beginning – but that things turned “the longer they went on”.

Addison, 55, of Cupar, Fife, denied a total of 15 charges on indictment, allegedly committed between June 2014 and August 2017 during car journeys across north east Fife.

The trial continues.