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What was your first driving lesson like?

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Original post by Emma:-)
Basically in the 8 lessons i had, i had done pretty much naff all. I would have 2 lessons (i had one a week), then he would be "on holiday" for a fortnight, then i would have another couple, then he would be "on holiday" for another fortnight. At its worst, i had one lesson in 5 weeks. The first time, i actually believed he was on holiday (i had no reason not to), but then he kept doing it. Even when i did have a lesson, i just went round the same 2 or 3 streets constantly, just driving up and down, i never actually learnt anything.


Ahh he sounds bad, glad your ditched him :smile:
My instructor gave me a quiz before i set off, 'press the clutch' 'indicate left' 'go to 5th gear' etc. and he let me set off then he said 'press the brake' and i stomped on it and stalled. :colondollar:
He drove me to a housing estate, made me listen to him for about half an hour. Then I had to drive round this housing estate really slowly. Then he made me get out, and drove me home. :frown: Was not impressed with the first lesson.
Reply 63
I'm surprised so many people just sat and listened to the instructor in their first lesson. I drove round and round my town about 10 times. Nearly crapped myself though as I had no idea what I was doing, but it was all good in the end :tongue:
Original post by Coffeegirl
Ahh he sounds bad, glad your ditched him :smile:


I know right.
My friend was with him as well (the reason i went with him), and he was a bit like that with her, but not as bad.
Reply 65
Most scariest thing ever. Fantastic instructor, but after riding a motorbike for a few years and having a full bike licence before a driving a car meant I kept trying to change gears with my feet, put hardly any effort into moving the steering wheel and had to always resist the urge to fit through motorbike size gaps in traffic!
Original post by Emma:-)
I know right.
My friend was with him as well (the reason i went with him), and he was a bit like that with her, but not as bad.


Ohh, example of when recomendations don't work! Did your friend ditch him as well?
Original post by Coffeegirl
Ohh, example of when recomendations don't work! Did your friend ditch him as well?


No, my friend didnt ditch him, but she wished she had have done though. He wasnt as bad with my friend as he was with me, so she didnt realise how bad he could be for a start. It was only after i ditched him that she and her parents realised how bad he was (by then she had been learning for a while as she is a few months older than me). And he got steadily worse with her over time. Then she didnt ditch him because by then she was close to taking her test and didnt want to change instructors that late on. But he was always like "2 more lessons and you can book your test" like every lesson. In the end she just booked it.
Original post by Emma:-)
No, my friend didnt ditch him, but she wished she had have done though. He wasnt as bad with my friend as he was with me, so she didnt realise how bad he could be for a start. It was only after i ditched him that she and her parents realised how bad he was (by then she had been learning for a while as she is a few months older than me). And he got steadily worse with her over time. Then she didnt ditch him because by then she was close to taking her test and didnt want to change instructors that late on. But he was always like "2 more lessons and you can book your test" like every lesson. In the end she just booked it.


aww, its always worse when you have no one to compare to. Did she pass then?
Original post by Coffeegirl
aww, its always worse when you have no one to compare to. Did she pass then?


Yeah, luckily she passed first time.
Original post by Emma:-)
Yeah, luckily she passed first time.


Ahh that's good. :smile:
First lesson-

cockpit drill for an hour and then drove down the street for an hour. Did a three point turn with the instrutor controlling the peddles.
To be honest it was quite boring!
My instructor spent ages going over each and every button/switch in the car :sleep: and then i only had like 5 minutes to try pulling away before he had to drive me back home... :frown:
Reply 73
my instructor spent half an out pointing out the steering wheel and pedals lol then we set of at about 5mph which was terrifying, then a few lessons later you reach 30 mph and think your going so fast your face is going to peel off, :rolleyes: then you pass and 30 mph feels so slow you think you could get out of the car and walk faster lol
Mine spent about 5 minutes explaining the cockpit drill. Didn't even have to explain the clutch, rest of the pedals, push-pull, handbrake and all that malarkey as I already did "my research" (his words not mine) before ever getting in a car. Only spent half an hour driving through a residential street with other learners though. Tbh I wasn't even nervous which could be seen as a good or bad thing, it all felt surreal for me. I even tried to put it in third gear and my instructor slammed on the brakes (at about 25mph) because he thought I'd put it back in "first". :rolleyes:
(edited 11 years ago)
I sat in the passenger seat for a few minutes, she drove up the road, explaining a few things, then pulled up and told me to get in. It was so quick and I was terrified! Then we drove around for a bit and I got up to about 30mph. Haha at one point I accidentally went into fifth gear instead of third, and she said 'hey, well you can tell all your friends you got up to fifth gear in your first lesson now!'
Reply 76
I don't have a very good memory of my first lesson but i remember he taught me how to work the clutch then let me drive around in circles for ages and drove me home.
Lmao, pretty nerve racking. He introduced himself, as did I and then he drove me to this housing estate area where he initially just explained things like movement signal manoeuvre and showed me how to set off. I drove around the block a couple of times and he testing me with things here and there. He explained everything slowly after stopping but honestly nothing felt like it was going in, the bite/clutch combined with giving it gas was the hardest thing for me. He said he was surprised i didnt stall once in the entire lesson but afterwards I figured out it was because I had my foot on the clutch all the time lmaoo i was shocked he didnt realise that. He drove me back though, second lesson was pretty much similar to it. My third lesson, I went to a new instructor (reccmmended by a friend) and I learnt more in that one lesson than I did in two of the instructors lessons combined. Mainly because his car was much easier to drive (His was a Yaris 1.4 Diesel and the old instructors was a 1.1 Clio Petrol iirc) and because he let me get on with the driving and not stop me every two seconds which didn't give me a chance to get a proper feel for the car.

I would not want to go through that experience again, the first lesson was scary and its very frustrating when you don't improve in the second. Its SO important that you have a good instructor at the beginning. After a while I just felt like I didn't need an instructor tbh, just needed practice on road..more road time and I was sorted.
Mine drove me to a quiet estate and we changed seats. Then he went through the cockpit stuff in about 10 minutes and let me drive around the estate. My driving was atrocious as I couldn't turn left or right without him needing to push down on the dual brakes. Miraculously my steering improved a lot within an hour and my instructor said he was confident enough to let me drive home. Was terrifying but loved every minute of it.
My instructor asked me if I had driven before the lesson. I told him 'Not properly but my dad took me to a car park and taught me the basics' and he said 'I take it you weren't insured'... :afraid:


I wasn't insured but it was an empty quiet car park so if the police did for some reason check it I doubt they would have done anything.

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