Hm, lots of things my instructor did. I was too stupid to see early on he was taking my £££ from me.
1. Charged me for first lesson (£23/hr), but my friends said their first lesson was free. Even his business card, which he gave to me incase I decided to return to him after I cancelled lessons with him, said on it 'First lesson Free'.
2. Only took me through test routes
literally three times out of 53 hours of lessons - I would travel to far places and practice there, for what reason? To pick up his next student who happened to live far away. So I never had a chance to actually drive through the test routes nearly as much as I should have.
3. In the process of 'picking up other students' I would occasionally drive an automatic for half of the lesson since the next student who I am 'going to pick up' drives an automatic - I paid for manual lessons. My fault for not talking about it, but again I was stupid.
4. Promised me discounts for booking a block of 10 lessons; never saw that.
5. This is where it really gets annoying. He would book my tests AT THE WRONG DATES; literally 2 months late. I would tell him there were test dates in (December) but he would intentionally leave it till 3 weeks later to book the test dates and then say there were non available. I remember he even had to nerve to try and push me to do more lessons up until the (too late) test date.
6. When he tried to correct my test date he booked it at the WRONG TEST CENTRE and when he tried to correct it, he would leave it, you guessed it, 3 weeks later so the test dates become really late. More lessons = more £££ for him. Even had the nerve to tell me 'Not to check online regarding my test date'
7. Once test was booked, I suddenly became the worst driver in the world, telling me there is a speed camera coming up (when I'm driving at a constant 28mph when limit is 30mph?), telling me I indicated a second too early, telling me when to change gear (after 40-50 hours I know how to change gear...) and then using this all against me saying I am not ready for the test and that we should postpone it and do more lessons
8. He also made me do a reverse around the corner at nightime in a dark alleyway with no streetlights. I literally couldn't see the kerb, looking in the back window is pointless since its all black, I had to get out to see. For some people this may be OK but to me it seemed he was just trying to have a reason to tell me I'm not good enough. I would be able to execute the manoeuvre but he would tell me off for not being exactly x cm away from the kerb at all times.
9. He would talk on his mobile whilst I am driving, this is actually illegal
10. I told him I was going to cut lessons short and start practising in my own car: you can imagine his response. Apparently I should not drive any car OTHER than his own (instructor's car) as I will, all of the sudden, be unable to drive his (instructor's) car. And this was after I had 50+ hours practice in his car.
11. Such a hypocrite, about 30-40 lessons earlier he pulled up outside my house in a completely different car, didn't tell me about it, made me 'practice' in it for 2 hours, charged me £46 and then switched back to his old car. I had to spend important lesson time getting used to his new car; I was very early in my learning stage at this point.
12. One time I was waiting to emerge into a major road (from a minor road), and there were lots of traffic on both sides - so I couldn't enter. Literally there was no way to enter without having an accident. He then had a go at me for 'not making any effort'. I said to him I can't emerge its too unsafe and there are no gaps. His reply? Yes, but, you should move you car up a bit past the line to show you are interested in emerging. WTF
13. He would use my lesson time to run his little errands, going to the bank, his house (like 25 times literally, half the time I am driving there), etc
14. I don't know why but I have caught him a few times with his eyes closed whilst I am performing a manoeuvre like reverse around the corner or reverse parking..