Driving Lessons Terms & Conditions

Tuition

Tuition is only available to persons who meet the following criteria:

  • Aged 17 or over or aged 16 or over and in receipt of the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance (mobility component); and
  • hold a valid UK provisional driving licence; and
  • legally entitled to drive in the UK.

Lessons & tests.

You and your instructor are responsible for agreeing all matters relating to the timing, location and duration of individual lessons.

You must notify your instructor of any matters which affect your ability or entitlement to have driving tuition, for example, but not limited to, any lack, or loss, of a valid UK provisional driving licence.

Instructors reserve the full right to withhold the use of their tuition vehicle for a driving test.

Cancellation of lessons*

If you or your instructor wish to cancel a lesson a minimum of 48 hours prior notice should be given. If your instructor cancels a lesson without giving this minimum period of notice your instructor shall rearrange the lesson. Cancellations by you must be directly between you and your instructor.

If you do not give at least 48 hours’ notice of cancellation you will be charged for the lesson(s) concerned in full. Please note that in the event of you having booked your driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) stipulates that you need to give three clear working days to cancel your test. This may mean that you may/will lose your DVSA test fee if your instructor says you are not ready for test within this three-day notice period.

Timekeeping & Traffic delays

Instructor cannot be held responsible for delays due to traffic delays

Any lesson start time that is running late, the pupil will be contacted by the instructor in advance (phone signal providing)

Where possible, our instructors will make up any lost time at the end of the current lesson or add to a future booking

Any loss of test fees, due to late arrival, are non-refundable by either instructor or DVSA

Photographs and In-Car Training Videos

You agree to allow System Driving School / Franchised Instructors to post pictures of your driving test pass on our social media pages.

You also agree, to allow when requested and for training purposes only, for you to be videoed during your in-car training session/s with our instructor/s to assist them with further training towards their DVSA required Standard Checks. These Standard Checks are called at random by the DVSA for them to check that all driving instructors are adhering to the high standards of tuition set by the DVSA. These videos will be posted as “unlisted” on our “Driving Instructor Training Academy” YouTube site and are used solely by our Driving Instructor Trainers to assess and improve the standards of our driving instructor franchisee’s tutoring.

Payments and lesson bookings

You must pay for any tuition at least 72 hours before the start of the lesson by using one of the following methods:

  • Payment by bank transfer to the instructor’s designated account..
  • Payment by cash or cheque direct to your instructor (any cheque must be made payable to your instructor).

Price changes

The cost of prepaid tuition is based on the lesson price in force at the time of booking and, with the exception of the circumstances set out below, will be honoured for 6 months thereafter irrespective of any price increase that may occur between the date of booking and when the lessons are taken. Any unused lessons remaining after 3 months have elapsed shall have any lesson price increase applied prior to the lessons which shall become payable by you.

Circumstances where, if you have prepaid, you will be either be required to pay an additional amount beyond the cost of your pre-paid lessons or receive a refund of some of your prepayments (as applicable):

  • Where you have moved postcode area and requested relocation to another instructor because your current instructor does not operate in the new postcode area, you will be required to cover any difference in the hourly rate between those instructors where your new instructor charges a higher hourly rate or, where your instructor charges a lower rate, you will be refunded the difference.
  • Where you have not undertaken any lessons for a period of three months after a price rise in tuition has taken place you will be required to pay the difference in price for your remaining lessons

Refund policy and warranty

You are entitled to cancel your prepaid tuition at any time (for the provisions relating to the cancellation of individual lessons please see ‘Cancellation of lessons’ above). If you have not taken any lesson(s) at the time of cancellation you will be entitled to a full refund of any amounts paid directly to the instructor, excluding any booking fees subject to the points below.

  • If you have taken lesson(s) at the time of cancellation you will not be eligible for a refund on any lessons taken, including the booking fee (if applicable).
  • If you have taken lesson (s) at the time of cancellation you will be required to gain any refund from the driving instructor directly, as he/she would be in receipt of the complete booking payment (as per Payment and Lesson bookings above)
  • Where it is possible to do so, we/your instructor will refund you using the same method you used to pay for your lessons when you made the payment. If for any reason we are unable to do this, we reserve the right to refund you by any other method we deem appropriate.
  • Instructor may request additional information from you to confirm your identity in order to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007; we will also use this information to ensure adherence to our Merchant Operating Instructions for card collection facilities.
  • Refunds may take up to 10 working days to reach you or your account.
  • Refund of partial block booking will be made pro rata on any lessons not taken.
  • If you have paid your instructor for the tuition you wish to cancel, your instructor will refund you adhering to the same principles as set out above.

Transfer-ability of lessons

You cannot sell or transfer lessons to any other person, which have been purchased in your name.

Limitation of liability

Your instructor is not liable to you for any loss or damage caused where, and to the extent that:

  • there is no breach of a legal duty owed to you by the relevant person or body;
  • such loss or damage is not a reasonably foreseeable result of such a breach;
  • any such loss or damage, or increase in the same, results from any breach or omission by you
  • any such loss or damage results from circumstances or matters outside of the reasonable control of the relevant person or body.

Your instructor shall not, in any event, be liable for losses relating to any business interests you may have including, without limitation, lost profits, lost earnings, loss of opportunity or business or business interruption.

Nothing in these terms and conditions will affect any statutory rights you may have as a consumer.

Insurance

Your instructor will carry the appropriate motor insurance, should you be involved in a collision as a learner driver while in control of driving the instructor’s tuition vehicle.

Short notice test

A short notice test is when there are four weeks or less from the date of the first planned lesson to the date of your booked test.

A short notice test package consists of 10 hours of instructor and tuition vehicle time as a minimum. This includes a 2-hour driving assessment and a further 3 hours covering the day of your driving test.

As a minimum, you will need to pay for 10 hours of tuition before any lessons can be booked.

Additional hours purchased within the short notice test period as defined above will be charged at the instructor’s standard hourly tuition rate plus £5.

If you fail your test and require additional lessons these will be charged at your instructor’s standard hourly tuition rate.

If you change your mind and wish to cancel your short notice test package lessons, a minimum of 48 hours cancellation notice is required prior to the initial 2-hour assessment lesson, for a full refund. Please refer to our Cancellation of Lessons and Refund Policy and Warranty sections, for the standard terms and conditions of our cancellation and refund policy.

During the initial 2-hour assessment lesson you will be evaluated by your instructor. If after the 2-hour assessment lesson the instructor assesses that you are not ready for the test, the instructor is under no obligation to take you to the test. Your instructor will advise you of the next steps needed to become test ready.

The Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency stipulates that you need to give three clear working days to cancel or reschedule your test. This means that you may lose your Driving Standards Agency test fee if your instructor says that you are not ready for the test after the initial 2-hour assessment lesson or at any point during your lessons. In these circumstances your instructor is nor liable for the cost of any lost driving test fee.

If you decide to reschedule your test to a later date, you can use the unused pre-paid hour(s) for further tuition toward the new test date within six months of the date of initial driving lesson.

This offer cannot be taken in conjunction with any other offer.

Law applying to terms and conditions

These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales and are subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Complaints procedur

You can complain to DVSA about service for DVSA approved driving or motorcycle instructors by email or post. They aim to reply to you within 10 working days.