Old driving instructor changed test date without permission

deanos

Hello , it’s a bit of a long one but asking for advice wether i should get some money back

My daughter was having driving lessons paid for by me (Dad) , we paid the instructor for the test fee and he booked a test 

The instructor wasn’t that great and she wanted to change instructor, we found a new one and she was happy

I went on DVSA website to book her test , i had forgot that prev instructor booked in a test, i changed the date to December , i received a email to confirm

She went for her test and they had no details of the booking so couldn’t proceed she as you can imagine was distraught , i called DVSA and and they confirmed the test had been changed three times, i never got any emails about this as the previous instructor changed the email address to theirs , the call agent cancelled the test that was booked  in her name as this would give a new booking number and prevent the old instructor changing it again 

I rebooked a test but earliest was in March  , luckily her new instructor had one already booked and managed to swap it to last week

She passed her test , but it’s cost me an extra £230 for the extra lessons and taking her to the test 

Would i be able to claim the £230 back from the first instructor as they changed dates without permission ?

They have broken the code of conduct as they are not meant to change dates without student permission.

Thanks 

ButterCheese

Well you can try but it will be entirely up to them as to how hard they make it for you to get any money back.  If a private one then very hard.  You might have more luck if it's a big outfit like AA driving school.  The grey area will be a written or verbal contract, and even if written, it will probably cost you more to pursue it.  If you have the time and energy then go for it.  But have you had this out with the instructor first?  See what they say

powerful_Rogue

If she was ready for her test, why did you need to spend another £230 on lessons?

TheSpectator

Suppose the salient point is who 'owns' the booking when it's booked through the driving instructor portal? I assume that although you paid the ex-instructor for the test they then pay it themselves direct to DVSA?

Did you get the fee back from the old instructor? If so, I suspect that's all you are going to get.

Okell

powerful_Rogue said:

If she was ready for her test, why did you need to spend another £230 on lessons?

This ^

TheSpectator said:

Suppose the salient point is who 'owns' the booking when it's booked through the driving instructor portal?...

And this ^

@deanos -  when your daughter (or you) ended the arrangement with the first instructor, was it amicable?  What did you actually agree about the test that the first instructor had already booked?  Did you owe him any money in respect of this?  did you tell him to cancel it and you would rearrange it?

sheramber

Did your daughter complete all her lessons with the old instructor?

Did she tell him she was stopping with him and going to someone else?

You changed the date of the test, he changed it again,  Who changed it the third time?

saajan_12

Would be easier with some dates on this, but some comments in line:

deanos said:

Hello , it’s a bit of a long one but asking for advice wether i should get some money back

My daughter was having driving lessons paid for by me (Dad) , we paid the instructor for the test fee and he booked a test 

The instructor wasn’t that great and she wanted to change instructor, we found a new one and she was happy

I went on DVSA website to book her test , i had forgot that prev instructor booked in a test, i changed the date to December , i received a email to confirm - so did you use the booking created by the old instructor, or did you pay for a new one? If you were using the old booking, presumably you figured out at that point that they had done so, and could have contacted them?

She went for her test and they had no details of the booking so couldn’t proceed she as you can imagine was distraught , i called DVSA and and they confirmed the test had been changed three times, i never got any emails about this as the previous instructor changed the email address to theirs , the call agent cancelled the test that was booked  in her name as this would give a new booking number and prevent the old instructor changing it again - when was this?

I rebooked a test but earliest was in March  , luckily her new instructor had one already booked and managed to swap it to last week - okay so Jan2025? How much later than the original test date was this? 

She passed her test , but it’s cost me an extra £230 for the extra lessons and taking her to the test - how much extra lessons and how long was the time delay? There's an argument that its a skill that would need to be practiced up until a test, but this is not clear cut. 
Also what's the cost in taking her to the test - a little bit of your petrol, or actually paying the new instructor for their vehicle during the test? 

Would i be able to claim the £230 back from the first instructor as they changed dates without permission ?- your claim would be for your mitigated damages, so you'd need to prove that the £230 was incurred and was unavoidable . 

They have broken the code of conduct as they are not meant to change dates without student permission.

Thanks 

morgan54321

This exact thing has recently happened to my niece! She went for her driving test & was told it had been cancelled & rebooked. DVSA have confirmed it was her old driving instructor who logged into her account & took her slot for another student, rearranging her test for 5 months time at a completely different test centre. They didn’t appear to think that she stands anywhere legally with this but surely if my niece was no longer a student of hers she had no right accessing her account & stealing her test?? Did you get any where with complaining/claiming on this? We are looking to report to DVSA as misconduct but I would like to know if you have any further suggestions of what we can do. It’s devastated my niece who had built herself up to take her test only for the opportunity to be taken away from her. 

deanos

morgan54321 said:

This exact thing has recently happened to my niece! She went for her driving test & was told it had been cancelled & rebooked. DVSA have confirmed it was her old driving instructor who logged into her account & took her slot for another student, rearranging her test for 5 months time at a completely different test centre. They didn’t appear to think that she stands anywhere legally with this but surely if my niece was no longer a student of hers she had no right accessing her account & stealing her test?? Did you get any where with complaining/claiming on this? We are looking to report to DVSA as misconduct but I would like to know if you have any further suggestions of what we can do. It’s devastated my niece who had built herself up to take her test only for the opportunity to be taken away from her. 

Hiya , my daughter got in touch with the instructor and he is sending a complaint form , he declined the refund , not had one through yet ,if I don't hear anything we will probably put in a complaint with DVSA as it's against there code of conduct