Lost a pupil a few months ago after three 1½ hour lessons, because she didn't like my style of instructing.
Second lesson I wasted too much time giving her too much information.
Third lesson, I didn't give her enough information so she informed me she would be moving to another instructor. Adding, "would you be offended if I came back to you if I didn't like them?"
I didn't answer because I thought it was a joke. Yesterday my wife got a call from her wanting to book a block of 10 hrs. Needless to say I have a full diary!

I have two slots available, Wednesday 1.30 until 3 and Thursday 9.30 until 11am. Also with two tests in the next couple of weeks there will be two Saturday morning slots available.
All my new starters in January are now beginning to leave me.

Finally saw the Watch Dog  report on Drive Dynamics. Starting about 2008, when Red were putting lots of instructors on the road, and everyone was cutting prices I stuck to my principles until we were desperate and I signed up for 6 months, £99 per week to D/D.
Had to have an online diary, (never came) so my wife came with me to speak to them. First thing they did was offer us coffee, it never came and the wife said, that's not good.
Everything is done by text, you give them post codes which they ignore and send you pupils a days drive away. You text back refusing that pupil then two weeks later get a text saying the pupil is complaining because you didn't turn up.
I paid weekly letting them use my debit card, sometime I paid twice in one week! Sometimes I got threatening texts saying I hadn't paid that week so would be charged extra.
You did the first lesson, then two weeks later you got the payment for that lesson.
Because of D/D I realised what a fantastic local bank I had, which also happened to be D/D bank.  Where I couldn't get to speak to anyone at D/D the bank could and was able to inform them they were looking at their account and could see they'd taken the money.
I gave the required notice to end the contract and guess what, the next week they still took the money. My bank got it refunded but they did the same the following week. With that the helpful young men at the bank took my debit card, cut it up and reported it lost. I got a threatening text the following week because they couldn't get a payment. In the six months I worked for them I got nine pupils, plus two they sent to me, which naturally I ignored, two weeks after I left. 
They may have a bad reputation with pupils, they have an even worse reputation with local instructors I've spoken to.

Congratulations to Anna Genders who passed 1st time with just 2 minors.  Anna is one of those students who has learned to drive in months because she came out for every lesson wanting to learn, never cancelled, listened and enjoyed herself. She is now off to America to coach football.
Be safe Anna, you were a joy to teach. 

Unprofessional Drivers

This video demonstrates how unprofessional so called professional drivers can be.

Holidaymakers are being warned to expect a summer of car hire disruption after it emerged that the DVLA is to scrap the paper counterpart of driving licences from 8 June, with drivers told to obtain a special online code before heading abroad – or possibly be refused a rental car.

In what it says is a purge on red tape, the DVLA is abolishing the paper counterpart that currently accompanies all UK photocard licences. It is advising drivers to destroy the document (not their paper licence if they still have one) because it will no longer be legally valid. Instead, all endorsements will be held electronically on a web-based service called “Share Driving Licence”.

But fears are growing that the “very muddled” introduction of the new rules will almost certainly lead to some hirers being turned away by car firms this summer. This is because many car hire companies insist on examining the paper document to check on any endorsements or bans.

After 8 June holidaymakers will have to log on to the DVLA website the day before they leave and input their driving licence number and national insurance number. The system will then generate a one-time passcode which the holidaymaker can give to the hire company when they arrive at the desk.

The code is only valid for 72 hours, which will mean that holidaymakers hiring a car in the second week of a foreign trip face having to find an internet cafe and log on abroad, or pay roaming charges, if they want to show the car hirer their record. If they fail to produce the online code, the car hire firm may call the DVLA’s premium rate line (charged at up to £3 a minute) to check the driver’s status – if they can get through.

A spokeswoman for Hertz says: “We will ask customers for the DVLA one-time pass code, or for the PDF of the driver record, or we will use the DVLA premium-rate line – but this has restricted hours of operation.”

DVLA says the Share Driving Licence system, which is still being worked on, will be ready in time for 8 June.

Reminder. If you are booking your tests,applying for a new licence  do so through our website. Go to Resources and there you will find the official channels that don't charge you a booking fee.
Just applied to renew EHI cards but instead of going through the website I found what I wanted on Google. Halfway through I saw the sign for credit card payment. Knowing it's a free service I came out immediately, this is the second time I almost got caught out. Ugov is at the bottom of the page not at the top as you would expect.  Be careful.