Driving school franchise rip off

Stressedandunimpressed

I wanted to share my very bad ongoing experience with a driving school.  I entered into a contract to become a driving instructor last summer and decided for personal reasons not to pursue it.  Now I face being sued for what he would have made out of me had I continued.  I dont think people know what they are getting into.   I am not a qualified ADI or anywhere near it and unless you pass all the training within a year you have to start paying for a franchise you are not even earning from.  If you want to leave you will face a heavy financial penalty.  Does anyone have any similar experiences?

Pollycat

What did the contract say?

CliveOfIndia

Stressedandunimpressed said:

I dont think people know what they are getting into.  

.......

unless you pass all the training within a year you have to start paying for a franchise you are not even earning from.  If you want to leave you will face a heavy financial penalty. 

If this is a legitimate company I'd be mightily surprised if these penalty clauses were not stated on the contract you signed.  Presumably you read the contract, including all the small print and T&Cs, carefully before you signed?

If there was no mention of these clauses in the contract then let him sue you, he won't have a leg to stand on.

DullGreyGuy

Stressedandunimpressed said:

I wanted to share my very bad ongoing experience with a driving school.  I entered into a contract to become a driving instructor last summer and decided for personal reasons not to pursue it.  Now I face being sued for what he would have made out of me had I continued.  I dont think people know what they are getting into.   I am not a qualified ADI or anywhere near it and unless you pass all the training within a year you have to start paying for a franchise you are not even earning from.  If you want to leave you will face a heavy financial penalty.  Does anyone have any similar experiences?

Welcome to the world of being a business person. The state heavily protects consumers from themselves giving you lots of statutory rights. As soon as you move into B2B you are expected to be a grownup and stand on your own two feet and either know enough about law/contracts to read it yourself or be self aware enough to know you dont have enough knowledge and therefore engage a solicitor. 

The business bit of the forum here is littered with similar stories where small businesses have signed bad contracts without understanding them and then complain when they cannot exit them without significant costs. 

If you aren't good with contracts you should get someone that is to at least read what you agreed to and give you views of how enforceable the terms are and develop a plan of how to deal with it.