YOUNGSTERS as young as ten from across Hampshire will be getting behind the wheel for a competition.

The Young Driver Challenge 2016 is back and looking for the safest and most responsible teenage and child drivers.

And the best could come away with prizes worth up to £500.

The challenge aims to help young drivers stay safer on the roads and reduce accident rates among new drivers.

Currently one in five youngsters have an accident within six months of passing their test and 400 people are killed in the UK each year after a crash involving a young driver.

But Young Driver hopes to provide lessons to youngsters at 43 sites, including WestQuay, before their 17th birthday to help them gain experience before even getting their driving licence in a bid to reduce accidents.

And this year the firm has dropped its entry age by a year to allow 10-year-olds to take part.

As part of the challenge 10 to16-year-olds will drive a dual-control Skoda with an instructor.

They will be marked on their driving skills and manoeuvres, including parallel parking, figures of eight, turns in the road, steering, judgement and position.

The youngsters will then visit the Goodyear Driving Academy where they will use an online driving simulator to test their knowledge on the road and get tested on how much they know about the Highway Code.

The top twenty 10 to 13-year-olds and the top twenty 14 to 16-year-olds will then be invited to take part in a grand final in September for the chance to win an array of prizes, including post-17 driving lessons, remote control cars, £500 off a car insurance premium courtesy of Young Driver sponsor Admiral and a £200 cash prize.

Kim Stanton, who heads up Young Driver, said: “The current, traditional way of educating youngsters is clearly not working.

“We strongly believe that by educating young people from a younger age and over a longer period of time, you create much safer drivers.

"The research figures back us up, proving it halves their risk of having an accident.

“The Young Driver Challenge gives us the opportunity to celebrate the hard work these youngsters put in and to show the world how responsible and safe youngsters can be behind the wheel given the proper tuition and experience.

“We look forward to receiving lots of entries – the final is always the highlight of our year.”

For more information about the challenge or to book a Young Driver lesson visit www.youngdriver.eu or call 0844 371 9010.