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In-Tuition Driver Training

An autumn warning!

2/11/2024

Well here we are, autumn already and Christmas on the horizon.
We've changed government and are already paying dearly for it, the leaves are are the only things that are falling and driving test waiting times are still ridiculously long, which is the reason for this blog entry.
In my local area the waiting time for a test is currently 3 and half months, the longest i have ever known it in my 36 years as an ADI. Most driving instructors have waiting lists but can't get though them because if a candidate fails a test they have long wait to get another. The system is broken and our new Labour government needs to address the problem urgently. Which brings me to my point. Because there is such a shortage of available tests, unscrupulous scammers are buying up tests and selling them for greatly inflated prices on the internet and on social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok etc to people desperate to pass. People are having to travel to different parts of the country just to stand a chance of getting a test appointment.
As i said, the system is broken and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. The DVSA are currently recruiting more examiners to cope with the demand, but a poor salary and poor working hours and contracts means less people are applying or staying in the job.
So my message here is simple, if you're looking to book a test, do so early through the www.gov.uk website and be prepared for a wait. Once you've booked and have a booking reference number you could try using one of the many apps available such as 'Testi' to try and find an earlier test or just try logging on to the gov.uk website at 6am on a Monday morning when the new test dates are announced. Either way, my advice would be to avoid the various swindlers on social media sites who claim to have early test dates at grossly inflated prices. They are there to scam you out of your money and many don't even have test bookings at all. You don't find that out until its too late. Some even offer 'full' UK driving licences without even taking a test which is clearly a scam and highly illegal.
My advice is be guided by your driving instructor, who knows you, he knows the test centre and its waiting times and can give you the best advice on the way forward to taking your test.
Don't let the scammers get your money.

Very little changes!

26/6/2024

I can't believe its almost mid year already and we've only just got some decent weather. I think I've used the air conditioning so much less this year but this week I finally had to turn it on.
Demand for lessons has not slowed down and waiting times for most instructors is around 2-3 months with the 'automatic' instructors telling me they are 3-4 months. One guy said he'd struggle to get people started this side of Christmas. Just crazy!
And test waiting times are still way too long with a 8-12 week wait for Scarborough test centre. It makes teaching somebody and predicting when they will be ready a crystal ball gazing exercise.
Still, it keeps me out of mischief.
As I said in my last blog, I changed my Citroen DS3 for a C3 back in September 23 and my customers love it but I'm not sure the car is fully up to the task of driving tuition. So far I've had to fit 4 new tyres, new discs and pads and in the last few weeks it needed a new Catalytic Converter at a cost of £1,550. Add to that, it eats oil and its proving to be an expensive car to use. It might be a case of lets get rid and move to something else... but what?
In May i hit official retirement age and I looked at packing it all in, but then I thought, what on earth would i do with my time if i did. I've got a full diary, am pretty healthy and my wife doesn't retire for another 6 years! On the plus side, I've got myself a bus pass that I'll probably never use, but there have to be some perks to hitting this age.

It's time.

14/9/2023

It seems in the blink of an eye autumn 2023 is upon us. I swear every year goes faster and faster. To say it's been a busy year would be an understatement with waiting lists becoming the norm once again since the end of Covid lockdowns. Not only waiting lists for lessons but also long waits for tests with sometimes months rather than weeks being a regular thing. Enquiries have been coming in from as far afield as London and Plymouth from people booking a test in Scarborough and desperate for help to take it. I was offered £1,000 from a doctor in London for 4 hours tuition and the use of my car for his test at Scarborough DTC. Just crazy!
It seems people are desperate to get a full UK licence and this is driving up the waiting lists around the country. Unscrupulous sellers have been buying up blocks of tests and selling them on social media sites like Facebook for crazy prices to those people desperate enough to pay. I've never known a time like it.
And talking of time, it's finally time for me to part with 'Nexy Snooze', my tuition car of the past 5 years. The mileage is racking up and so are the niggling faults so I've decided it's time to move her on and get something newer before the Winter sets in. New car availability is pretty poor at the moment and used car prices are going up on a weekly basis, it seems. I've managed to secure myself a nice Citroen C3 with quite low mileage to see me through the next three years and I'm hoping because its from the same Citroen stable that my customers will find it easy to adjust too after the DS3. I'll miss 'Nexy' but the time is right for a new start.
I've posted a picture below of the replacement. Once it's got the roof sign on and some snazzy decals I think it will stand out.

Spring 2022

3/4/2022

Almost Easter 2022 and the year is flying by once again.
The winter has been kind weather wise, and demand for driving lessons is still very high with most instructors I know having a wait list for lessons.
The waiting time for driving tests still remains artificially high with August the current offering but earlier appointments are available if you keep checking. The rules about wearing face coverings in car have also been removed for tests, but examiners are still wearing theirs, which is understandable.
The driving test centre is moving this year to a site on Seamer Road inside the Falsgrave Community Centre. It's not an ideal placing for it but apparently its the best the DVSA could find in the town. Could be interesting during the peak Summer months with heavy traffic on Seamer Road. I can see the test 'timings' being severely strained especially during the school holidays. We shall see.
I've had to increase my lesson price by £2 per hour due to the recent drastic increase in petrol costs. Its heading for £7 a gallon now which is just crazy. Might need to look at electric in the future, although there needs to be a much better range on the batteries to tempt me.
Well its time to get the wash leather and vacuum out to sort the car for next week.
Safe driving everyone!

High Demand

22/6/2021

It's the longest day of the year and June is proving to be a busy month.
Since the end of the lockdown restrictions in April, life and teaching has started to get back to some sort of normality, although in-car restrictions and social distancing are a constant reminder that we are still dealing with this damn virus.
I wasn't sure how much demand there would be when we restarted lessons but I have been pleasantly surprised by just how many people want to get started driving or to finally take their test. Getting a practical test is certainly easier said than done however, with over 460,000 tests backlogged from lockdown and more people adding to that number each day. Currently in the Scarborough area the waiting time is roughly 5-6 months which is the longest I've known since I started teaching in 1989. The wait for tests is not putting new drivers off learning though as this month has seen a marked demand for lessons with many instructors (including me) having a waiting list. I think this shows a renewed optimism that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us and the future is looking bright. I have had both my vaccinations now but still do twice weekly lateral flow tests to keep a check on the situation and many of my clients I know do the same.
So as we head into the late summer and autumn I'm hopeful that this coming winter will be kind to us weather wise, and that we can all keep earning a living doing what we love the most, helping people to learn new skills and opening up opportunities by passing their driving test and becoming safe drivers for life. And we just need some decent weather to help it along the way.

Good News (fingers crossed)

12/3/2021

The Prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed his road map out of lockdown with a staged recovery back to a normal way of life which means (as i write this) we can get back to teaching again on April 12th with driving tests resuming in late April.
I have started preparations to get my business ready for the return by having the car serviced and giving it a good clean and sanitising the interior, something which I will be continuing regularly when lessons resume.
I have had my first vaccination but I'm still very much aware of the chance of transmissibility within the close confines of the car so I will continue to wear a face covering during lessons and will ask my pupils to do the same unless they are exempt.
Back in January I raised my hourly lesson rate to £28 because of rising costs of fuel, servicing and a general increase in the cost of living. It's the first such rise since 2017 and brings my charge in line with the excepted industry standard. I aim to keep this rate for the foreseeable future while giving my pupils a high standard of service in a safe environment.
To say I am excited to be going back out teaching and seeing my customers again would be an understatement and I think we all have a great (but very different) future ahead post lockdown. I'm looking forward the the challenges of the new normal in 2021.
Now, where did I put those car keys?

Uncertain Times

21/1/2021

So, here we are into our second year with 'Covid 19' and as I type this we are under government lockdown No3 with no end in sight.
None of us could have foreseen at this time last year just what an unprecedented impact this virus would have on all our lives. I know many of my students are frustrated because time and time again their tests have been cancelled or moved and now the latest estimates are predicting a return to 'normal' by around May. We wait and will see what the uncertain future will bring us but our main focus must always be on keeping each other safe and preventing more deaths.
Once we are able to return to teaching and testing the in-car hygiene standards we have put into place will be maintained until everyone eligible has been vaccinated and there is some certainty about the reduction in transmissibility. Until then lets all do our best to reduce further infection by maintaining the government guidelines of hands, face and space and remember that we are not observers in this pandemic, we are participants and no matter what the government advises, it us and us alone that will defeat Covid.
Stay safe everybody!

2020 Vision

11/6/2020

So when you were singing Auld Lang Syne on New Years Eve, could you possibly have imagined what 2020 had in store for you? Me neither. In fact none of us could have foreseen what was about to happen to our lives and the world in general. Like most of you I have been staying indoors and obeying the governments Civid 19 guidelines, because one thing is for sure, we are not observers in this pandemic, we are all participants and we can all make a difference as to when things get back to normal.
'Back to normal' is a phrase that is heard in just about every conversation at the moment. Whether it's on the phone, in the street, on Zoom or Skype, we all want things to get back to normal. But we all know that normal is never going to be the same again post Covid, so we need to find a new way of making things as near normal as possible. Like all driving instructors, I am wanting to get back to work as soon as is possible, but there is much work and preparation still to do to make the environment in the car as safe as possible for both myself and my customers. Undoubtably we will, at first anyway, need to wear some form of PPE (personal protection equipment) and the car interior will need cleaning down between lessons to ensure it is safe for use. Lesson times will need to be changed and the time between lessons will need to be longer to allow for that cleaning process. At the time of writing this, the DVSA have still not announced when testing will resume in the UK and under what circumstances etc. Anyway, rest assured, if you are one of my customers or are thinking about learning to drive with me I will make sure every effort is made to make the post Covid experience a pleasant and safe one for us both.
The government seems to be hinting that a return to work in July will be possible so I'm planning on getting the roof sign back on then and getting back out there. I just hope i remember how to teach!
Stay safe and remember, the outcome of this pandemic is in our hands only.

Post Test Blues

26/6/2019

It's always been the same, a student takes lessons, passes their test and disappears into the world to become (we hope) a good and safe driver.
The reality these days with rising fuel and insurance costs is that many newly passed drivers can't afford a car straight away or maybe they are going off to university etc so don't need to drive. Months or sometimes years can pass before they finally get back behind the wheel in a car of their own and consequently their ability levels and confidence have suffered in that time. A recent study found that 26% of drivers under 30 had spent 6 months or longer without driving after passing their test and over a quarter of them said they believed that time 'away' had contributed to them having an accident when re-starting driving. This makes sense, but what can be done to help the situation?
As a driving instructor most of my business is helping beginners to start driving and eventually pass their test, but I'm also here when people need help to get back behind the wheel and regain their confidence after a long period away. Refresher lessons are always available and are a great way to get that confidence back and improve the drivers skill levels either in their own car or a dual controlled car and of course motorway tuition or a Pass Plus course can also help.
The mantra 'Safe Driving For Life' is still as strong today as its always been and as instructors. we are always happy to help coach someone back up to full speed. Excuse the pun!

30 Years and still going strong.

10/5/2019

I think its fair to say, a lot of things have changed since I started teaching back in back in 1989.
The cars have changed an awful lot, the roads have changed and the drivers that use them have most certainly changed, not always for the better. The technology that we have in our pockets and in the cars that we drive have changed so much too.
Its good to know that even with all these 'advancements' some things are still as great to use today as they were back in the day. My little 'Dinky' tuition car has served me well for almost all of my teaching career and is still in my car glovebox today ready to show my learners which way to steer to achieve that perfect parallel park. And the 'illustrator' model that I bought back in 1990 is there as a back up to talk people through the mechanics of parking as well. A picture may speak a thousand words but my little toy car steering successfully into a pretend space still brings a smile to my customers faces even today.
It's all part of the modern learning experience, helped along it's way with a little bit of nostalgia and a toy car to make my learners safer drivers. You're never too old for toys!