Noel Gallagher quit driving lessons after being mobbed by fans (2024)

Noel Gallagher quit learning to drive after being mobbed by fans during his first lesson.

The former Oasis star, 55, said he gave up after his driving instructor caused a group of fans to hound him as he was behind the wheel in the 1990s.

He explained: “The woman who gave me the lesson… I was driving round a housing estate in Slough [Berkshire] and she said to me, ‘Pull in here’.

“I pulled over and she got out of the car.

“She said, ‘I’ll be back in a minute’ and she came out with her mum. She’d driven me to her house and her mum was taking a picture of me in the street in Slough.”

Things then escalated when a nearby school bell sounded and the students started storming out.

He told Zoe Ball on the Radio 2 breakfast show: “I’m in a red Nissan Micra with a massive great big triangle on the top of it with an L, with all these kids coming out.

“This is at the height of Oasis mania. I was like, ‘never, never again am I getting in a car’.”

Gallagher, who has been the frontman for his rock band High Flying Birds since quitting Oasis due to a feud with his Brother and former bandmate Liam Gallagher in 2009, has used a chauffeur to drive him around for years.

Despite the rocker not having a licence, he continues to splash out on luxury cars, including a £110,000 vintage Jaguar, which he previously labelled his “most expensive mistake”.

“I thought when I became a fully-blown rock star, I was gonna need a car,” Noel said in 2019.

“So I got a Mark 2 Jaguar from 1967, the year I was born. But they take about 18 months to two years to build, so I thought I’ll easily have learned to drive in two years.

“This low-loader pulled up outside the house with this car on the back. I was putting the kettle on, thinking, ‘f***ing lovely car, that. I’m gonna get one of those, one day’.

“And the guy knocked on the door and said ‘Mr Gallagher? Your car!’ I’d forgotten that I’d bought the car.”

The glossy black convertible sat in his garage for over 20 years, and was only driven once by his ex-wife Sara MacDonald.

“We just happened to be near the garage it was in – it was like going to visit an old auntie. Let’s go and have a look at the Jaguar!” he said.

However, Gallagher continued to buy flashy cars, which he has never driven.

“I’ve never fancied it,” he added to Zoe Ball. “I’ve got a chauffeur, he’s outside, Big Al – he’ll be listening.

“I should [make him wear a hat] but no, he wears his own clothes and we drive around incognito,” he laughed.