Bad driving instructors

Scroll to see replies

Lol my first instructor was exactly like that! He was telling me how to close doors, put on seatbelts, to look in mirrors when i open my door and how to pull the seat forward/back. Wasted 2 hours of my life with that ******, lol, i already knew how to drive before i took lessons with him, he never used to let me drive over 10mph on a 30mph, even though i can drive properly :L.

Second instructor was the best, used to let me play music out on way back after lessons, have one hand on steering, one out the window lol, seat leant back, shades on. He even used to buy drinks whilst on lesson when it was hot days! He also used to let me horn at girls whilst drivin past em :wink:

And he sold me a pass plus certificate without doing the course :biggrin:

£50 lol!

Your second instructor sounds like a terrible instructor, if I'm honest.

Reply 241

JefficaAlice

I've had such a terrible time learning to drive that I've now given up entirely after 7 years on and off.

My first instructor sent me a very rude letter claiming he hadn't been paid and refused to teach me anymore as I was useless. I'd only had about 10 hours of lessons at this point as a complete beginner!
My second instructor taught me that everything my first instructor had ever said was wrong and he hadn't taught me anything I needed to know. She put me through to my test (I'm not sure how many lessons it was it was so long ago) But when I failed she punched me, I'm not joking she proper pelted me in the arm for failing on something silly. I didn't try another driving instructor until 5 years later.
My third instructor was even worse. He was late to nearly every lesson and never added the time on the end, cancelled half of them for 'personal issues'. Would always have me pull over so he could have a cigarette, regardless of the fact that he was constantly smoking one of those E cigarettes. Eventually I was waiting outside at the allotted time for my lesson and he never showed up (the lesson was meant to be at half 3) sat outside in the freezing cold before eventually going inside and trying to call him, after leaving him 2 messages he finally called me back yelling and swearing at me that my lesson was at half 5 (I wouldn't have booked a lesson at half 5 as I start work at 6) He was very aggressively asking me why I wasn't outside at half five when he's more than capable of coming and knocking on my door if I'm not out there waiting for him in the rain! So I fired him and complained to the company he worked for.
I was then recommended another instructor by a friend (who worked for the same company) he told me the previous guy had taught me completely wrong and was amazed that in all the time I'd been driving with him he hadn't taken me anywhere near the test centre (which by the time I'd gotten this far along had moved out of my local area to over 30 miles away) He taught me for a while put me through 4 tests. Then when I was booked in for my 5th attempt (I suffer terribly with nerves at the test but not at all while driving, having had a full breakdown on my 4th test rendering my unable to complete it) he texted me, didn't even call me, and said he couldn't take me for my test and didn't 'feel he was the right person to teach me'
I've passed my theory test twice with flying colours both times. Now I don't know if I even want to try again given my previous experience. I ride a motorbike and am absolutely fine on that, but my husband and I want to have kids one day, and a motorbike isn't baby friendly. Currently I'm trying to get the OH to learn to drive as I've lost any shred of confidence I may have had left.

I don't think I'll ever learn to drive if I'm being honest it just seems impossible.

Reply 242

han56

I've only had two driving lessons, my instructor made it clear that she doesn't waste any time, which is true as she explains all she needs to and then gets me driving. However, she has said, quite a few times, "oh you should have slowed down then", "oh you should have done this or done that" - how am I supposed to know if she hasn't told me at the time? She often tells me to speed up and then two seconds later to slow down. I guess I can resolve that issue by asking her to be more specific with the speeds and to give me instructions at the appropriate times. Her phone is constantly going off and she stopped me once to deal with a text message. I could also resolve this by asking her to put her phone on silent. An hour before my first lesson she texted me saying she would be 15 minutes late when she was in fact 30 minutes late. She changed the time of my second lesson very last minute. She also wants to change my day to a day which would be very difficult for me as she has put all her manual learners on one day and autos on another. She isn't very relaxed and constantly has her hands on the steering wheel, sometimes making it difficult for me to steer as her hands are in the way. I understand that she needs to sometimes but not at every turn. I am considering trying another instructor for a one off lesson in a couple of weeks as my current one is unavailable that week. Any thoughts?

Reply 243

CleverLilViper

Original post by Ilkay.Gündoğan

. He would mention this 'indian boy' that had the cheek the go ahead and book his test without permission (since when did you need his blessing?) --

.

He sounds abysmal, but in general, it is best (not required) to have your instructors permission before booking a test. IF you intend to take it in their car, that is. If you do intend on taking it in their car, and book the test without their approval, they are well within their rights to refuse to take you to test. So, in general, I'd advise getting your instructor's approval before booking the test. That is if you trust their judgement and intend on using their car for test. If not, do what you want.

Reply 244

trin0664

Original post by Emma:-)

Has anyone had a bad driving instructor past or present that they want to moan about.
Did they turn up for lessons late/not at all? Did they not teach you anything or take you round the same streets again and again? Did they cancel lessons at the last minute? etc
Share your experiences and warn people of dodgy instructors

I had one driving instructor ( young's driving excellence in Falkirk) who was awful.
He seemed to have issues with lies to students and was rude & arrogant. Even promises further tuition and them lets people down - I followed up on his promise and
was met with conflict by e-mail. simply just awful service. he was ok until I told him I had learning issues and then all changed.

Reply 245

SpaghettiGuy1337

I'm not sure what to do. I've had 12 hours in total so far (6 2 hour lessons) but I'm stuck doing left and right turns as well as junctions. He says that he doesn't want to get me onto bigger roads as I'm making too many mistakes. Our lessons usually follow a strict pattern I find. I get in the car, start off well (just following on from the last lesson), and then if I make a mistake (which I'm obviously gonna, I'm learning ffs) such as going slightly wide when turning, he tells me to pull up and gives me a 5 minute talk about how that is "extremely dangerous" and gives me some extreme scenario of how I could have caused a massive crash. I get a bit annoyed then, (I know what I did wrong, I don't need a talk about it) and start making more and more minor mistakes, after which he gives me more talks even though I know what I've done wrong, and I would much rather just get out and try to get more practice, knowing what I've done wrong. All this time he sounds annoyed and when it comes to explaining concepts, he gives me useless analogies and explains it like I'm a baby. Some of the things (like starting and stopping) took absolutely ages as he was explaining it to me wrong. E.g. when braking he told me to "squeeze the brake" which implies to keep pushing it down harder and harder until I stop, which obviously ends up with a jerky stop. He didn't realise I was doing this, and I was concentrating on "squeezing" it the right way to get a nice stop eventually, which doesn't work.

I'm genuinely considering switching instructors, but it feels like I'm going to keep making the same mistakes with others as I have no confidence and potentially screw myself even harder, as he seems like a good instructor when I'm not making mistakes. I don't look forward to my lessons, and it seems like I'm driving I'm mostly focusing to not piss him off rather than improving.

Reply 246

beyhivethe1

Started with a new instructor today, best decision ever :smile:

I've started having 3 lessons with my previous one who took it for a complete joke. He was always late (worst was 30 mins late) , went on holiday after my 2nd lesson so there was a 2 week gap before my 3rd lesson Only did roundabouts, turning & normal driving and wouldn't take it seriously. We even stopped at the petrol station b/c he wanted to fill up the car, he let me do it but i was still pissed off, why couldn't he sort that out before our lesson? & take a toilet break. Worst thing is, the lesson is only for 45 minutes!! Take away the traffic lights, level crossing & toilet break i would say it was about 30. He also kept asking me way too many questions (most personal one was if i have a boyfriend) and just kept laughing, being a joker about it.

£21 doesn't magically appear from nowhere every week

Happy to say new instructor is awesome and properly explained my weaknesses making me practice again until I'm familiar with the concept. We even did 3 point turns :tongue:

Reply 247

Mia212

my driving instructor i had for about a year n a half which i failed my 2nd test with i did worse in my 2nd test than my first! basically i only did independant driving 2 weeks before my first test and thats what i failed in on my second test i got so nervy driving on my own i did silly mistakes. He was always late 10-15 sometimes with no apology or anything i should of changed ages ago but i was comfortable with him until he shouted and swore at me on a lesson! he didnt care if i passed or failed looking back at my second test now i dont think i should of gone in for it and he never told me to not go in for my test or advise me on it he was just like ok. i sent him so very honest stern texts the day i failed my test later, I was just money he didnt care. I now start lessons with a new instructor soon and everyone recommends him so cannot wait :h:

Reply 248

ohhello92x

Original post by Mia212

Aw bless. Hopefully you'll pass next time and the new instructor is a million times better than the old one :biggrin:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 249

2048435

I had a driving instructor from a driving school called Bill Plant. Worst driving instructor ever. Started to have lessons in March 2016 and I still haven't been taught any manuevres and how to reverse. Abysmal. I tried to raise the issue up with the driving instructor but he quite simply said that he had a plan for me. I trusted him and carried on with his lessons which consisted of me driving forward, on the same route.

7 months on and I have had enough. I've had 2 hour lessons every week - costing me £50! He still hasn't taught me any manuevres and how to reverse. I can drive forward with ease! He told me to book my lesson for the end of October. I booked it. He said we would "bat it out". Still nothing. I complained to the driving school and they're setting me up with a new driving instructor.

I swear, my driving instructor was milking me for all that I was worth.

Reply 250

greencardriving

Just to offer a little to this thread. I am a driving instructor and what you have decribed is not good. Though I will say as a pupil you do not need permission from your driving instructor to book a test - however the point is if you book a test without consulting your instructor you are either planning on going to test possibly with another driving instructor or are going to test in your own car. You see an instructor will not take you to test until you are ready for a number of reasons: if you drive very badly this reflects on their professional reputation as the dvsa examiners will comment and remember and a driving instructors reputation is all we have. Secondly you may not be ready and could be a danger on the roads on test as an examiner will not help if you get into troubles unless its a really dangerous fault, so you could injur someone or damage the car ( which the instructor relies on for earning a wage ) also if you drive badly enough your examiner could abandon the test, whereby they will simply as you to pull over - could be 3 miles from test centre and they will say test abandoned and leave you stranded in the car wherever you are.

So. Think twice before assuming that all instructors are sanctimonious control freaks for their own gain. There is often a bigger picture to be seen.

Reply 251

username1339858_

Question: is it normal for a driving instructor to cancel a lesson on the day as she/he has a test. This happens to me. My driving instructor lets me know in the morning (after 9:00 am though) that she can't make it because she has to stand in for a test or because students who have booked a test have found a cancellation and are ready to take their test early. Would she not know from the night before?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 252

greencardriving

TBH if your instructor is cancelling often because of this reason it means she is either allowing pupils to control their diary by having their own agenda, which the instructor should never allow as they have to consider all of their pupils and if one is being selfish it just doesn't work - or they are simply using this as an excuse.
I have been in the industry 10 years and have worked far too hard in this time and sometimes things go wrong as I was always trying to help everyone out and before you know it there is a logistical nightmare. So I decided to do a little less and provide a better service.
Though I would hasten to add a good driving instructor is worth gold and if this is the only thing that annoys you about yours then stick with them if you feel they are good at their job - or next time another instructor could be worse.

Reply 253

melinae

I have two hour lessons with my instructor and he keeps taking me to the other side of town which takes about 45 mins alone, and then we just cover the test routes and stuff, I don't even know how to reverse park next to a car in a car park as I've never done that, nor have I done multi-story car parks or anything. He just obsesses over going over the test routes over and over. But when I took my 2nd test, we went to somewhere I've never been and because I haven't learnt to adapt to new roads, just the ones he 'thinks' are test route areas, I'm finding it really hard to pass.

I don't know if its just me being rubbish or him though, but my boyfriend explained this to his instructor (i cant use his as he lives in essex and i'm up north) and that instructor said he sounds rubbish. Ive had over 40 hours and my boyfriend has had about 20 and hes covered so much more than me. I dont know whether I should swap or stick with him until I pass or what... :frown:

Reply 254

Ham22

thye used to cut my lessons short.

Reply 255

littlemix012

Original post by SpaghettiGuy1337

This is pretty much the exact same as what my instructor is doing to me!!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 256

SpaghettiGuy1337

Original post by littlemix012

This is pretty much the exact same as what my instructor is doing to me!!

Posted from TSR Mobile

It got insanely annoying and I ended up switching 2 weeks ago! I had 20 hours or so under my belt, but I dreaded my lessons so much and I wasn't getting anywhere as my instructor didn't want to get me onto busy roads, but I drew the line at him making me insanely stressed out at a country drive.

I'm with a new instructor now, and in the first 1 hour lesson I got onto incredibly busy roads with no problem, and a 2 hour lesson after that he told me to book my practical. The difference is immense, and I really didn't realise how much of a difference it will make. My problem was to go with the first available instructor at the time, instead of looking at pass rates (my old instructor had no students pass yet when I started with him, jokes on me, and to date he only has 2 - which is after like 5 months on the job).

Book a 1 hour lesson with another instructor. You won't regret it, as you can always try another one.