I do not normally leave reviews, but my experience was so shocking that I feel as though I have no choice.
My instructor taught me over the course of around ten months. During that time, there were extended breaks of one to three months, in which communication was minimal or nonexistent. This is because he said he had private students which he would "prioritise" over me being a student from the company. Teaching would then recommence, but instead of the intensive course I had paid for I saw him once every two weeks (which he was without fail late for). There were multiple occasions where my instructor had said one time for a lesson, before changing the time on the day and falsely claiming that we had spoken about it prior.
During the actual lessons, my instructor seemed disinterested in my driving, and when he did pay attention he was ill-tempered and unhelpful (yelling and even swearing at me). We would spend very short periods of time practising manoeuvres, and when we came to practising them just before the test he expressed surprise and anger at my difficulty in performing them. This general disinterest in my driving led to me picking up unhelpful habits that he again was shocked to see and berated me over.
After accidentally scraping his wheel slightly, my instructor attempted to guilt trip and emotionally strong-arm me over half an hour into making me pay for a full set of replacement tyres. He said that if I failed to, he would cease teaching me. I refused to pay, but he did not follow through with his threat.
In addition to this, he was constantly on his phone which made me feel uncomfortable. He was not paying attention to what was going on around the car and I felt as though my money was being wasted.
I did not pass my test due to gaps in his curriculum, where road features I had never covered were on the test route. He in fact tried to convince me I had gotten the date of my test wrong by a week the day before my test was due to happen.
This, along with his demeaning attitude, general apathy towards my driving, and constant breaks in the middle of my lessons are indicative of his unprofessional conduct and I would be unwilling to recommend him to any student - especially a beginner driver unsure of themselves or low in confidence. I felt uncomfortable, disrespected, and couldn't wait to be free of him.
The company was very efficient and quick at replying to my queries. I thought their conduct was professional and I have few issues with them, though whenever I wanted to contact the company about my instructor they would inform him of everything I had said, with him immediately responding to me in a combative manner. This left me feeling unable to express my concerns and grievances. Additionally, when I requested to change instructors they twice refused despite the above, claiming there was no availability.
I would not recommend this intensive course, I would instead recommend going through an independent instructor as it will likely be cheaper and more time effective, and you are free to change instructor if you need.
