Luke Littler forced to cancel driving lessons as his manager addresses concerns

Luke Littler has been forced to cancel his driving lessons, as fears about burnout begin to increase. The teenager burst onto the sporting scene at the back end of last year and has since established himself as a household name.

Continuing to go from strength to strength, Littler has been a regular on television screens ever since the 2024 World Darts Championships. The Runcorn-born ace has been competing in the Premier League each week, having been handed a lucrative spot in the televised competition following his run to the World Championship final.

But it’s away from the oche where Littler has seen his profile grow the most. The darts sensation has been doing the TV rounds of late, having made his talk show debut on The Jonathan Ross Show earlier this month, before going on to appear on the BBC’s Comic Relief, as well as Fantasy Football League with Matt Lucas.

As a result, Littler has been forced to make some real-life sacrifices, including postponing plans to learn to drive - something he’s said to have been desperate to take up when he turned 17. Juggling all of his engagements hasn’t proved an easy task, but Littler’s manager Martin Foulds has insisted it won’t lead to burnout.

“It's just another level, completely alien to anything that has happened in the darting world," Foulds told the BBC. “[He gets] 20 to 40 emails, phone calls, messages, minimum [each day about media engagements].

"I probably spend 70% of my working day dealing with Luke-related enquiries - calls, messages, Zooms, Teams meetings, media requirements.

“There's no off-season in darts. You've got to travel to these events - you don't just time-warp and you're in Belfast, Graz, Munich, Rotterdam. It's unsustainable for any player to travel and play all of those events. When you're playing in the Premier League especially, travelling can take its toll on anybody.”

He added: “He's still a teenager, still 17 - if he wasn't playing darts, he's be doing an apprenticeship or still be in school. So there are duties of care we have to follow to look after Luke as best as we can."

It comes after Littler has already pulled out of events this year, including the Nordic Darts Masters which was held earlier in 2024. What’s more, darts rival James Wade recently warned Littler about the stresses of a 24/7 schedule, urging him to take things easy.

“Littler has already become the PDC's biggest asset and they want to parade him around the country - and in the case of the World Series, the globe - while they have him,” Wade wrote in his Daily Star column. “I will caveat by saying that he might revel in it, lap it up and finish top of the top four - but ultimately that will come at a cost further down the line.

“The first major one will be his ability to qualify for events. It is all well and good being in exhibitions like the World Series and the Premier League - by the way, I would have bitten your hand off to be in them - but what he needs now is ranking points."

He added: ‌"It will be slightly strange if he ends up unqualified for big ranking events because of the stresses and strains of the Premier League. All that said, it will certainly be exciting to find out how it all pans out.”