A DRIVING instructor from Ellesmere Port has denied groping six female students claiming physical contact was part of his teaching style.

Frank Barham, 68, who has now closed Frank’s School of Motoring, is alleged to have inappropriately touched the teenagers and young women between 2004 and 2016.

During his ongoing trial at Chester Crown Court this week, he explained to jurors that he used a system of prods and taps to students’ shoulders or legs to help them learn.

A prod to the leg might indicate the learner was riding the clutch or braking too hard, whereas a tap on either shoulder would be a reminder to check mirrors or the ‘blind spot’.

“I would say to them, I do apologise for touching your knee. If it offends you please inform me,” Barham told the jury from the witness box. “It was nothing sexual.”

However, all of the complainants say the married former Sergeant Major went further than this, groping the inner thigh of one young woman and putting his hand inside the bra of another.

It is also alleged that he stuck his hand down one teenager’s knickers as she was driving down a country lane near Hooton.

Another woman claims Barham, of Halton Road, Great Sutton, hugged her and slapped her bottom on the day of her driving test.

And another said he tried to kiss her and suggested she wear “lacy red knickers” as a lucky charm on the day of her test.

Barham, who served with the 22nd Cheshire Regiment for 22 years until 1992, denies six counts of indecent assault and seven counts of sexual assault against the six women.

The court heard that the first two alleged victims – who cannot be identified for legal reasons - had made separate complaints more than 10 years ago.

Their allegations were investigated and Barham was interviewed, but no charges were ever brought.

When another complainant came forward in 2017 police made the link and subsequently obtained statements from a further three former students.

Giving evidence in his trial, father-of-two Barham said he had taught around 1,000 students aged between 17 and 64 over more than 20 years.

He told the jury of eight men and four women that he had always employed the same teaching style, which included slight physical contact.

“Was that ever used as an excuse to touch up a female driver?” asked defence barrister Owen Edwards.

“No, it wasn’t,” replied Barham. “I didn’t see any problem. Most people said ‘I’m glad you did that. It did help me.”

Cross-examining, prosecutor Andrew Green said: “Six young women have accused you of sexual offences and you say they are all liars?”

“Yes,” was the reply.

Mr Green suggested Barham had ignored both physical and conversational boundaries in a profession where the code of practice states there should be “no touching save in an emergency”.

He pressed the defendant on why he had not changed his teaching style after the first two complaints.

“In 2007 you had been in the police station twice being accused of sexual assault by two young women,” the barrister said. “Why on earth after that did you ever touch another young woman?”

Barham, who has no previous convictions, replied: “The only thing I ever touched was her leg or her shoulder. That’s as far as it went.”

Mr Green suggested that Barham had become “emboldened” when the police and Crown Prosecution Service took no further action – something the defendant denied.

He denied slapping the bottom of one student, saying he “may have caught her backside” while giving her a good luck hug ahead of her test.

He also denied the allegation that he would shout out at women on the street from his car, claiming this only ever happened once in relation to a male pedestrian.

“There was a coloured gentleman who walked straight in front of the car,” Barham told the jury. “I said ‘what’s that c**n doing?!’ I’m not racist though or anything.”

He also accepted that he had suggested one woman could wear red knickers to bring her luck as this had worked with a former student.

“I said if you want to wear red knickers then wear them,” he said.

Barham accepted he had called one of the girls “sexy” in a text message, which he immediately realised was wrong and apologised.

He maintained he had never done anything “inappropriate or creepy”.

Mr Green told him: “I suggest to you that you are an opportunist who has broken the trust of these young women.”

“I disagree,” replied Barham.

He denies all charges. The trial continues.