Learning to drive.

Thank(space)you said:

My instructor is annoyed I'm self isolating as my child has covid-19 symptoms. He's saying how do I expect to pass my test if I'm cancelling lessons

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I beg of you - please, find a new instructor, everything you’ve posted about him is just ringing alarm bells.

BettyCrockerr said:

I beg of you - please, find a new instructor, everything you’ve posted about him is just ringing alarm bells.

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I was just thinking he sounds like a right dickhead.

Thank(space)you said:

My instructor is annoyed I'm self isolating as my child has covid-19 symptoms. He's saying how do I expect to pass my test if I'm cancelling lessons

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I would seriously get rid. I remember my first driving instructor, I text him to say I needed to cancel as my mum had gone missing and he replied saying “well I’m outside your house”. So I said “well I’m not home, I’m out looking for my mum” and he just replied “I think we should take a break from lessons for a while”. (I couldn’t give him advanced notice as I literally had a call 20 mins before my lesson to say she was missing). I never heard from him again.

Rippedjeanmaybe said:

I would seriously get rid. I remember my first driving instructor, I text him to say I needed to cancel as my mum had gone missing and he replied saying “well I’m outside your house”. So I said “well I’m not home, I’m out looking for my mum” and he just replied “I think we should take a break from lessons for a while”. (I couldn’t give him advanced notice as I literally had a call 20 mins before my lesson to say she was missing). I never heard from him again.

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I had similar with my first instructor when my dog died.

I was glad to be shot of him

HoGi said:

I had similar with my first instructor when my dog died.

I was glad to be shot of him

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Wow that’s awful. Some people are just ridiculous. I’m so glad it gave me the push to get a different instructor, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be able to drive now!

Remember you are paying him, if he’s going to be a twat take your money elsewhere.

I’m on the final straw with mine. I had to change my test from November because he was double booked - fair enough.
I managed to find one for September - he moaned and complained until I changed it as it was too early in the day. 9am.
I was lucky to find one in August. All fine, he wrote it in his diary and we planned my next month of lessons and then he rings me Saturday saying he’s double booked AGAIN. I’ve just found one for October and will be checking like mad for an earlier cancellation but I will be complaining to him when I see him for my next lesson. I’ve got a lot going on atm so I changed it instead of adding more stress by trying to change instructors but if he messes me around one more time that’s it.

LaurieLaurie said:

Remember you are paying him, if he’s going to be a twat take your money elsewhere.

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So many people said that to me about my penultimate instructor, who was always cancelling lessons and saying he’d told me things over the phone when he hadn’t- I suffer from paranoia so just assumed I was the one making mistakes, but for some reason I felt like I couldn’t tell him I didn’t want lessons. He always went on and on about me being a single parent (as if I was there with my begging bowl) and how he was being so nice to me by knocking £3 or £4 off a block of lessons. He charged me £600 for lessons before lockdown 1 and never contacted me or responded to my messages. So much for giving my a discount for a single parent.

Belulah said:

So many people said that to me about my penultimate instructor, who was always cancelling lessons and saying he’d told me things over the phone when he hadn’t- I suffer from paranoia so just assumed I was the one making mistakes, but for some reason I felt like I couldn’t tell him I didn’t want lessons. He always went on and on about me being a single parent (as if I was there with my begging bowl) and how he was being so nice to me by knocking £3 or £4 off a block of lessons. He charged me £600 for lessons before lockdown 1 and never contacted me or responded to my messages. So much for giving my a discount for a single parent.

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Jesus… you didn’t have my old instructor did you?
Mine used to make a big deal out of the fact that I lived in a terrace house, he’d regularly tell me that they’re full of problems, but cheap and affordable… and then he’d drive me past his detached four bed (not joking) .

He also said to me “Dubai is nice, if you can ever afford it”. I slipped it in convo once that I go to Florida each year and he asked “do you go in a group? It’s very expensive going there…” as if I couldn’t afford to go? and once when I said I was taking my mum to Gran Canaria, he said he went and it was cheap and nasty…

i mean the funniest thing was when he used to say “you could do with two hours a week, but you wouldn’t be able to afford that”. Baring in mind, we had NEVER discussed my finances and I’d never said that I couldn’t afford two hours! Yes I worked in a call centre, but I was on 19k and my partner was an IT engineer… i laugh about it now, but my god he was a knob!

Rippedjeanmaybe said:

Jesus… you didn’t have my old instructor did you?
Mine used to make a big deal out of the fact that I lived in a terrace house, he’d regularly tell me that they’re full of problems, but cheap and affordable… and then he’d drive me past his detached four bed (not joking) .

He also said to me “Dubai is nice, if you can ever afford it”. I slipped it in convo once that I go to Florida each year and he asked “do you go in a group? It’s very expensive going there…” as if I couldn’t afford to go? and once when I said I was taking my mum to Gran Canaria, he said he went and it was cheap and nasty…

i mean the funniest thing was when he used to say “you could do with two hours a week, but you wouldn’t be able to afford that”. Baring in mind, we had NEVER discussed my finances and I’d never said that I couldn’t afford two hours! Yes I worked in a call centre, but I was on 19k and my partner was an IT engineer… i laugh about it now, but my god he was a knob!

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I think we must’ve because mine used to drive me past his house every lesson!

Why are there so many SHITE driving instructors around?
I’ve not had terrible experiences but I feel like sharing a few of mine BELT UP, it’s a long one!

First instructor I ever had I was with for a while but then I had a huge cystic acne breakout which was VILE to look at, was so painful and I wouldn’t even leave the house. Anyway I text her to cancel my lesson 2 days in advance, explained what happened and said how sorry I was. We had a lesson booked in the following week but she never replied to my text and never turned up to the lesson the following week so I gave up with her.

Found another instructor who advertised that she taught pupils in my town but it seemed she rarely came to my area. I told her my address, had the first lesson booked. Waited for ages on the day and she never turned up. So I text her and she said she turned up but couldn’t find my house! Then she apparently realised she’d gone to the same name road in another town and couldn’t find my house number, even asked the postman apparently. Then rather than ringing me she just drove off and never contacted me as I was the one who messaged her!? So booked another lesson, she turned up that week with another pupil in the car and she had to drive him home first which was about 25 mins away. Then she made me drive from his house back to mine, having no idea how good or safe I was at driving and I’d never done main roads before. Got back to my house and she said she was going in for surgery and wasn’t available for 4 weeks. Told me to text her in 4 weeks for another lesson and she also said she would contact me. Neither of us bothered so that was the end of her

I moved to another city and found an elder lady with loads of experience to teach me. On my first lesson I got to her car she couldn’t believe how tiny she was and she was well in her 70s! She had really old fashioned ways of teaching and didn’t understand why I was struggling with certain things and got really impatient - I’m a fucking learner! Her lessons made me so bloody anxious I binned her as well.

The next one was ok but we didn’t quite gel. Then she turned into a right twat. She worked for a driving school who used a computer booking system to book in lessons. I had a week off cos I was busy so then text her to book my next lesson in She offered me a time which I agreed then the booking confirmation text was the wrong day so I text her and told her I couldn’t do the day she had booked me in for as we had agreed the day before. She text back and said she’d book me in for another day. I never got another booking confirmation text so I was confused. That Saturday I went to my mums and my driving instructor rung me saying I’m outside where are you? I said I didn’t know we had a lesson!? I never got a text. She text back saying she’s booked me in for the following week but I still got no booking confirmation. The day before my supposed lesson she text me checking I could still do the next day. I said “no? I didn’t know we had a lesson tomorrow I got no text about it?”. She was really arsey and I sent her a clear text explaining that I am NOT receiving the confirmation texts from the driving school for some reason so can she please text me personally with the day and time otherwise I have no idea when the lesson is. She said the problem must be my phone.Then a few days later she texts me at 8am “if you’re awake I can do a lesson now?” wtf!? I was so fucked off with her that I binned her as well

I am FINALLY with an amazing instructor now but I went through hell to get here

Belulah said:

I think we must’ve because mine used to drive me past his house every lesson!

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Sounds like the fruit loop I had. Think these people need a new career!

Rippedjeanmaybe said:

Jesus… you didn’t have my old instructor did you?
Mine used to make a big deal out of the fact that I lived in a terrace house, he’d regularly tell me that they’re full of problems, but cheap and affordable… and then he’d drive me past his detached four bed (not joking) .

He also said to me “Dubai is nice, if you can ever afford it”. I slipped it in convo once that I go to Florida each year and he asked “do you go in a group? It’s very expensive going there…” as if I couldn’t afford to go? and once when I said I was taking my mum to Gran Canaria, he said he went and it was cheap and nasty…

i mean the funniest thing was when he used to say “you could do with two hours a week, but you wouldn’t be able to afford that”. Baring in mind, we had NEVER discussed my finances and I’d never said that I couldn’t afford two hours! Yes I worked in a call centre, but I was on 19k and my partner was an IT engineer… i laugh about it now, but my god he was a knob!

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I would have slammed the breaks on an exploded.

The only reason I’m sticking with mine is because he’s in his 40th year of teaching and everyone knows him/has passed with him so I’m trusting his judgment.

LaurieLaurie said:

I would have slammed the breaks on an exploded.

The only reason I’m sticking with mine is because he’s in his 40th year of teaching and everyone knows him/has passed with him so I’m trusting his judgment.

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Doesn’t mean he’s any good!

Rippedjeanmaybe said:

Jesus… you didn’t have my old instructor did you?
Mine used to make a big deal out of the fact that I lived in a terrace house, he’d regularly tell me that they’re full of problems, but cheap and affordable… and then he’d drive me past his detached four bed (not joking) .

He also said to me “Dubai is nice, if you can ever afford it”. I slipped it in convo once that I go to Florida each year and he asked “do you go in a group? It’s very expensive going there…” as if I couldn’t afford to go? and once when I said I was taking my mum to Gran Canaria, he said he went and it was cheap and nasty…

i mean the funniest thing was when he used to say “you could do with two hours a week, but you wouldn’t be able to afford that”. Baring in mind, we had NEVER discussed my finances and I’d never said that I couldn’t afford two hours! Yes I worked in a call centre, but I was on 19k and my partner was an IT engineer… i laugh about it now, but my god he was a knob!

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Sounds similar to a driving instructor I had (but opposite) - she had a weird chip on her shoulder because she seemed to think I came from money or something and she would make these odd comments. I was living at home at the time and was about 22 working part time so definitely not rich but as I was living at home she seemed to assume I was a sponger living off my “rich” parents. We had a nice house but nothing extravagant. I stupidly kept her for ages as she made me feel like I was the one with the issue - it’s hard to explain. My self esteem was really low at the time so I just accepted it.

How’s everyone getting on?

Belulah said:

How’s everyone getting on?

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Didn't have my lesson this week so I'll let you know on Tuesday haha

Thank(space)you said:

Didn't have my lesson this week so I'll let you know on Tuesday haha

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Have you looked into getting a new instructor????

Belulah said:

How’s everyone getting on?

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Still having lessons! Not learning anything new though. Wish my test was sooner

under the ivy said:

Still having lessons! Not learning anything new though. Wish my test was sooner

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Use your lessons to do mock tests. There’s no point just driving around aimlessly, tell your instructor you want to do mock tests and just drill all the manouvers/test routes/independant drives etc - they should be using the time YOU are paying them for properly.

Belulah said:

How’s everyone getting on?

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I’ve got a new test date for October after he was double booked for my august test. I’m just going to hope we aren’t back in restrictions by then..! Enjoying my lessons, I’m kinda glad it’s been pushed back as I feel more confident every lesson