Intensive Courses Driving School
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The 2 stars are for the ease of the…
The 2 stars are for the ease of the booking process etc. I literally just selected what I wanted, paid online and was contacted with a test date. Actually finding a test date took a while, which wasn't ideal for me given that the whole point of me doing an intensive course was to get driving ASAP. The actual date ended up being 2 months away! If you are choosing this style of lessons just for the short learning process, this would work well for you. The driving instructor I was allocated was not useful for my style of learning. Instruction was minimal from the start, and there was often silence aside from giving route directions as he was texting etc on his phone non-stop. I asked him in one of the early lessons what the speed limit was for the road I was on. His response was "I don't know". The 2nd or 3rd lesson he was on the phone continously for the first 17minutes of driving. (Yes, I actually timed it!). I paid for 24 hours ended up split into 2 or 3 hour blocks. I noticed him napping in 4 of those sessions. He also face-timed people while I was driving and was late to almost every lesson (including the day of the test!!!) and ended them early. I want to be clear that this usually resulted in approximately 5 minutes of lost lesson time, (sometimes 10-15 minutes) but this adds up. If we had 10 lessons, that's 50 minutes. I shy away from confrontation so didn't say anything, particularly as I had had to pay upfront. I used YouTube to address issues I was having during driving e.g. stalling repeatedly and that worked well and found some great resources and instructors on there. Although he corrected my parallel parking, he only instructed me how to do it using his rear parking camera where lines and the rear view show on a little screen on the dashboard. I asked him how to do it without the camera. His response was "you'll figure it out after you pass the test". At this point, realising that me passing was 50:50 and worse, I could end up as a dangerously unskilled driver I contacted one of the instructors I'm following on YouTube. He was able to fit me in for 10 hours of lesson over 3 days. My driving improved so much over that time. I learnt how gears work, about checking every road sign you see, what gear I should be in and when, how to use the clutch properly and even how to steer!! For the first time ever (I took lessons twice previously but never got to test level) I felt in control of a car. I understood how and when to adjust my driving to conditions, obstacles, the slope of the road. I became a calmer, more assertive driver, instead of leaving excessively large gaps, driving too slow, braking harshly for every potential hazard and stopped coasting constantly. I had worried I would not feel safe driving after passing my test but those 3 days changed everything. And from the way my lidt instructor threw looks my way afterwards when doing certain things, I think he noticed too! Some of my friends have talked about feeling scared driving on dual carriageways etc after passing their tests, but I don't feel that way thanks to YouTube instructor. TL:DR Very smooth booking process, though 2 month wait for test was a little long for me. Allocated instructor was not an effective teacher for me, but the substitute I found on YouTube taught me so much in 10hours over 3 days, I do believe intensive courses with a strong instructor can produce safe, competent, confident drivers.