Intensive Driving Courses

Can't help you with a course but just wanted to warn you about something that happened to a colleague's girlfriend a year or so ago.

She enrolled at a course in Blackpool, the accommodation was a very run down B & B and put a bit of a damper on the start of the course. The course was advertised as 8 hours in the car for 4 days and test on day 5. So 4 pupils plus instructor packed into a Micra for 8 hours with just 2 hours at the wheel wasn't what she was expecting.

Also the test wasn't at the local test centre where they had been practisisng but anywhere within a couple of hours drive where they could fit in a cancellation test.

Make sure you find out exactly what you are getting for your cash.

Another thought is that some driving instructors will give you a discount if you pay for a few at a time. I paid £16 per hour for my daughter in 12 hour "chunks" she had 24 hours in 12 x 2 hour lessons and passed. The normal charge is £20 here too.

I can back up what nearlyrich says. If it's the same company I'm thinking of, they used to (or may even still) run adverts in the national tabloids towards the back. One of my friends went to a Blackpool-based one - she ended up staying in an absolute dive, got next to no individual instruction and the lessons went at the pace of the slowest person in the car, with the instructor starting to run out of patience by person 3 or 4.

Only after she kicked off about it on day 3 did she start to get anything like proper tuition. Her boyfriend's a journalist (fledgling, but she didn't tell them that ) & she dropped very large hints at a damaging piece appearing about them very soon if things didn't improve. She failed her test first time around, but they were 'persuaded' to cover the cost of her second one (which she passed) & give her a partial refund.

I think you are far better off asking people you know for recommendations and negotiating a price for paying for lessons in bulk/in advance. Apart from anything else, if you book for an intensive course & are then unable to attend, even a good company won't give you a full refund (or even any refund at all) so you'll have paid all that money for nothing. At least a local firm will allow you to change your lesson time/date, & the most you'll lose is the cost of one lesson.

hi
if you have untill september to pass then doing two or three 2 hour lessons a week would be the best way to do this. If you have done some driving it shouldnt too long before you will be able to put in for a test and then add extra lessons if needed. Doing it in a shorter more intense time is not the best way to learn a skill that can place you and others in danger.
going to a residential school is going to be very hit and miss you have to ask yourself why does a school need to get pupils from outside its area? All the good instructors in my area have too much work as it is and dont need the hassle of arranging a holiday as well!
so best option see if anyone can recommend an instructor to you if they cant go to an established school (not nationwide, over priced and generally inexpereinced instructors).
hope it goes well for you
e