Want to become a driving instructor? A hard lesson...
Discussion
I wasn't going to post anything about this, but it's really pissed me off, so I thought I'd share this with you:
My brother-in-law always wanted to become a driving instructor - he was a HGV driver and the hours were killing him and his family, he took VR, bought a car and "invested" in a driving "school".
The trouble began there, he signed a contract with the "school" and they paid for his training for which he was bound, contractually, to pay a weekly sum for. However, that weekly sum was set in the contract, that about being about £120 a week - and that was regardless of whether he was giving lessons or not.
Those lessons were booked by the "school" above and allocated to the driving instructors that were part of that "school" - the owner/manager of that school did not, however, make any effort to book or get lessons for the instructors and it was left up to them - the bookings went to a central number and were farmed out, seemingly, randomly.
There was no onus on the "school" to get or book lessons as they just didn't bother and left it up to the newly qualified instructors to advertise for the "school" - the owner of which was clearly quids in.
My BIL found that without advertising, he couldn't get many lessons in and found himself struggling to provide for his family - Any private lessons he was doing didn't really cover it and calls to the central number never seemed to get to him. He struggled to make the weekly payments and things got on top of him and the family.
Under much pressure he took this matter to the CAB and, eventually, an employment solicitor - who looked at the contract and observed that it was one of the worst weighted contracts he'd seen in that whatever my BIL did, for the term of the contract (3 years), he was bound to pay the "school" that sum of £120 whether or not he got lessons to cover that with nothing stated that the owner was bound to assist with advertising.
I advocated taking this to through the courts, but the advice he was given was that even if my BIL won, he would be out of pocket as he'd have to pay legal fees - My BIL has had to settle and take out a loan to cover it just to end this and stop all the stress that he and the family have been under.
Admittedly, he should have read and checked the contract, but he didn't (I think there's many of us that are guilty of that) and this is the position he's found himself in.
I won't name and shame but it's a "school" based in Grimsby, but I feel that I should as the owner of this driving school clearly knows what he's doing and knows that he has people over a barrel once they sign with him.
My brother-in-law always wanted to become a driving instructor - he was a HGV driver and the hours were killing him and his family, he took VR, bought a car and "invested" in a driving "school".
The trouble began there, he signed a contract with the "school" and they paid for his training for which he was bound, contractually, to pay a weekly sum for. However, that weekly sum was set in the contract, that about being about £120 a week - and that was regardless of whether he was giving lessons or not.
Those lessons were booked by the "school" above and allocated to the driving instructors that were part of that "school" - the owner/manager of that school did not, however, make any effort to book or get lessons for the instructors and it was left up to them - the bookings went to a central number and were farmed out, seemingly, randomly.
There was no onus on the "school" to get or book lessons as they just didn't bother and left it up to the newly qualified instructors to advertise for the "school" - the owner of which was clearly quids in.
My BIL found that without advertising, he couldn't get many lessons in and found himself struggling to provide for his family - Any private lessons he was doing didn't really cover it and calls to the central number never seemed to get to him. He struggled to make the weekly payments and things got on top of him and the family.
Under much pressure he took this matter to the CAB and, eventually, an employment solicitor - who looked at the contract and observed that it was one of the worst weighted contracts he'd seen in that whatever my BIL did, for the term of the contract (3 years), he was bound to pay the "school" that sum of £120 whether or not he got lessons to cover that with nothing stated that the owner was bound to assist with advertising.
I advocated taking this to through the courts, but the advice he was given was that even if my BIL won, he would be out of pocket as he'd have to pay legal fees - My BIL has had to settle and take out a loan to cover it just to end this and stop all the stress that he and the family have been under.
Admittedly, he should have read and checked the contract, but he didn't (I think there's many of us that are guilty of that) and this is the position he's found himself in.
I won't name and shame but it's a "school" based in Grimsby, but I feel that I should as the owner of this driving school clearly knows what he's doing and knows that he has people over a barrel once they sign with him.
If it seems too good to be true, it normally is. Driving schools don't train new instructors out of charity and just like any other business, they're trying to part you with your money.
I've just come across this in my line of work. Responded to an advert that was looking for successful and experienced people within recruitment. It turned out to be a small agency (upon doing background checks on them, they have made a loss in the last few years, and have no credit rating to speak of) in Cumbria, looking to invest in helping experienced recruiters set up their own businesses; for a fee of course.
The guy I spoke to sounded fine, but as soon as he mentioned investing/pay us a % of turnover, alarm bells started ringing. I then did the background checks and I wouldn't work with that company as a client, let alone an "employer"/partner.
I've just come across this in my line of work. Responded to an advert that was looking for successful and experienced people within recruitment. It turned out to be a small agency (upon doing background checks on them, they have made a loss in the last few years, and have no credit rating to speak of) in Cumbria, looking to invest in helping experienced recruiters set up their own businesses; for a fee of course.
The guy I spoke to sounded fine, but as soon as he mentioned investing/pay us a % of turnover, alarm bells started ringing. I then did the background checks and I wouldn't work with that company as a client, let alone an "employer"/partner.
Pannywagon said:
Driving schools don't train new instructors out of charity and just like any other business, they're trying to part you with your money.
I totally agree with you and, with the benefit of hindsight, it should have been foreseen - I think that the "you'll pay us £120 a week regardless and we won't really help you that much to find lessons" part would be quite hard to stomach though.In an ideal world, I would have wanted this to be pursued through the courts, but it clearly wasn't feasible in this case.
It is pretty dishonest - they claim to be a driving school, but it is obvious that their business and main source of income is training instructors and getting them locked into contracts. It would be interesting to see actually how many students they have on their books.
It is really very annoying when companies go out of their way to mislead. I got invited to a job interview (unrelated to driving) by one company, but on attending it became obvious that it was a glorified sales pitch for a training course, with a 'guaranteed' job at the end of it. The bloke couldn't understand why I was pissed off at him for wasting my day and travel expenses.
It is really very annoying when companies go out of their way to mislead. I got invited to a job interview (unrelated to driving) by one company, but on attending it became obvious that it was a glorified sales pitch for a training course, with a 'guaranteed' job at the end of it. The bloke couldn't understand why I was pissed off at him for wasting my day and travel expenses.
So £120 x by 36 months = £4320.
Its not that far off BSM's offering (£3k) if you consider any work you are given
http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-...
Edited to add - £2500 from the AA. This information can be had in around 30 seconds of searching...
Its not that far off BSM's offering (£3k) if you consider any work you are given
http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-...
Edited to add - £2500 from the AA. This information can be had in around 30 seconds of searching...
Edited by Torquey on Tuesday 1st February 11:09
Having run a driving school in a previous life I can understand his problems.
However £120 a week is not bad if it includes the car.
If it doesn't I wound expect to pay around £80 per week depending on the per week depending on the price of lessons.
Was the training subsidised by the school or funded by himself.
In a similar way to taxi company owners the more cars he has the more cash he makes.
We tried to share our bookings evenly between instructors however this is not an exact science due to availability etc.
DrIving instructors also have a habbit of taking pupils with them when they leave and these pupils would have cost the school a large amount in advertising to get in the first place, however a tie in of 3 years sounds a lot.
Hope he gets it all sorted.
However £120 a week is not bad if it includes the car.
If it doesn't I wound expect to pay around £80 per week depending on the per week depending on the price of lessons.
Was the training subsidised by the school or funded by himself.
In a similar way to taxi company owners the more cars he has the more cash he makes.
We tried to share our bookings evenly between instructors however this is not an exact science due to availability etc.
DrIving instructors also have a habbit of taking pupils with them when they leave and these pupils would have cost the school a large amount in advertising to get in the first place, however a tie in of 3 years sounds a lot.
Hope he gets it all sorted.
doogz said:
No, i'm sorry, he never read the contract, it's his fault.
You have taken a job before without reading the contract when the offer is made?
And what would he be attempting to achieve by chasing them through the courts? He signed the contract, it was all there in black and white.
I agree that he should have read the contract, it's the weighting of it that strikes me as being unfair - they make limited attempts to get pupils in and they set the lesson prices.You have taken a job before without reading the contract when the offer is made?
And what would he be attempting to achieve by chasing them through the courts? He signed the contract, it was all there in black and white.
Edit - no, never, I always read employment contracts - it's the others that I can be slack on (T&Cs for websites, for example)
Torquey said:
So £120 x by 36 months = £4320.
Its not that far off BSM's offering (£3k) if you consider any work you are given
http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-...
Edited to add - £2500 from the AA. This information can be had in around 30 seconds of searching...
I don't know how much research he did - but that's a bit of an eye opener really.Its not that far off BSM's offering (£3k) if you consider any work you are given
http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-...
Edited to add - £2500 from the AA. This information can be had in around 30 seconds of searching...
berg1 said:
Having run a driving school in a previous life I can understand his problems.
However £120 a week is not bad if it includes the car.
If it doesn't I wound expect to pay around £80 per week depending on the per week depending on the price of lessons.
Was the training subsidised by the school or funded by himself.
In a similar way to taxi company owners the more cars he has the more cash he makes.
We tried to share our bookings evenly between instructors however this is not an exact science due to availability etc.
DrIving instructors also have a habbit of taking pupils with them when they leave and these pupils would have cost the school a large amount in advertising to get in the first place, however a tie in of 3 years sounds a lot.
Hope he gets it all sorted.
The £120 doesn't include the car - the training was provided by the company and was included in the £120 a week fee.However £120 a week is not bad if it includes the car.
If it doesn't I wound expect to pay around £80 per week depending on the per week depending on the price of lessons.
Was the training subsidised by the school or funded by himself.
In a similar way to taxi company owners the more cars he has the more cash he makes.
We tried to share our bookings evenly between instructors however this is not an exact science due to availability etc.
DrIving instructors also have a habbit of taking pupils with them when they leave and these pupils would have cost the school a large amount in advertising to get in the first place, however a tie in of 3 years sounds a lot.
Hope he gets it all sorted.
He's resolved it by just paying the school off. Probably for the balance of the contract.
Is this not how a lot of nationally known and advertised driving schools operate anyway? Certainly similar to experiences I have heard over the years.
I was always under the impression that the best way to become an instructor is buy and run your own car independently (which obviously costs more upfront) but gives you sole control over your business and you do not have to pay back money to a third party.
As others have said, if he didn't read the contract properly then it is his fault entirely. I was speaking to a person the other day who recently had a similar experience with a certain colour-based driving school and ended up having to work nights to cover his normal living expense plus his weekly payments back to the school also. The power of advertising and lack of proper research...
I was always under the impression that the best way to become an instructor is buy and run your own car independently (which obviously costs more upfront) but gives you sole control over your business and you do not have to pay back money to a third party.
As others have said, if he didn't read the contract properly then it is his fault entirely. I was speaking to a person the other day who recently had a similar experience with a certain colour-based driving school and ended up having to work nights to cover his normal living expense plus his weekly payments back to the school also. The power of advertising and lack of proper research...
It's £120 A WEEK! £18k!!
Torquey said:
So £120 x by 36 months = £4320.
Its not that far off BSM's offering (£3k) if you consider any work you are given
http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-...
Edited to add - £2500 from the AA. This information can be had in around 30 seconds of searching...
Its not that far off BSM's offering (£3k) if you consider any work you are given
http://www.bsm.co.uk/become-instructor/instructor-...
Edited to add - £2500 from the AA. This information can be had in around 30 seconds of searching...
Edited by Torquey on Tuesday 1st February 11:09
Soooo many people have got sucked into those adverts promising £30k a year for sitting on your arse teaching people to drive and working hours you feel like.
In reality, it's fecking hard work to get anywhere near that. You have to do unsociable hours and there's a lot of schools with a very similar set-up to the OP's story.
In reality, it's fecking hard work to get anywhere near that. You have to do unsociable hours and there's a lot of schools with a very similar set-up to the OP's story.
DarrenL said:
HeavySoul said:
The power of advertising and lack of proper research...
Or reading the contract. I'm not an expert, but surely your BiL wasnt expecting to keep the car, a resource of a national company, idle on his drive way free of charge?! I sincerely hope he gets this sorted!
It's not a national company's car, by the way, it was bought by him - and yes, it's £120 a week - I'm not sure anyone deserves to be ripped off to that amount, not having read the contract aside....
Muzzer said:
Soooo many people have got sucked into those adverts promising £30k a year for sitting on your arse teaching people to drive and working hours you feel like.
In reality, it's fecking hard work to get anywhere near that. You have to do unsociable hours and there's a lot of schools with a very similar set-up to the OP's story.
I'm always amazed that people can be so naive about the £30K per year rubbish. If you say you need a turnover of £40K to earn £30K, thats over 50 hours of paid lessons a week at £15ph, and some schools charge far less than this, especially for introductory lessons.......In reality, it's fecking hard work to get anywhere near that. You have to do unsociable hours and there's a lot of schools with a very similar set-up to the OP's story.
I would imagine there are an awful lot of driving instructors out there struggling to even make minimum wage!
Dont think anyone charges less than £15 an hour i was paying £16.45 and £16.95 with bsm then another independant school and that was in 2002 going rate now seems to be around £22 certainly down south anyway. A lot of people do go with bsm now for instructor training at least for a couple of years so they can get a steady stream of clients then they might set up on their own due to building up a reputation from previous customers.
Thats usually just a promo cost to bring in a new customer if they then get the next 45 hours in at 19 the average is still around £15, at £10 an hour indefinately theynwould be earning less than minimum wage and certainly less than an hgv driver mentioned in the op, think about the time spent travelling between clients, your still working etc.
James, I'm not sure reading your post, did your BiL pass all three parts of the ADI test as a result of the training he recieved? or has he been working on a trainee licence yet to pass part three?
As the failure rate for part three is so high & a trainee licence is only issued for six months I find it strange that a school would sign people into a three year contract knowing that less than a year in, that person may not even qualify.
As the failure rate for part three is so high & a trainee licence is only issued for six months I find it strange that a school would sign people into a three year contract knowing that less than a year in, that person may not even qualify.
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