Lorne Gibbons Driving Instructor

FIRST TIME PASS

🚘🎉👌👍

A well deserved successful driving test goes to Rhys Matthews at the DVSA Driving Test Centre

You listened, you learnt, you overcame obstacles, you worked hard and now you can reap the benefits👍

Congratulations from Lorne and all the team at Uplands SOM.

www.uplandsschoolofmotoring.co.uk

Driving test: The official DVSA guide
Britain's driving test pass rate reached a five-year high of 51.4 per cent in May, suggesting that learner drivers are increasingly waiting until they are fully prepared before taking their test.
The Government has introduced new regulations, effective from Tuesday, restricting learners to moving a test slot to only one of the three test centres nearest their initial booking.
Another new rule, implemented on 12 May, bans driving instructors from booking tests, meaning only learners can now book and manage their own practical driving examinations.
These measures aim to combat the persistent backlog of driving tests and prevent unfair practices, such as individuals reselling test slots for profit or using automated bots to secure bookings.
Despite the increased pass rate, average waiting times for practical tests have surged to 22.4 weeks by April, a significant increase from five weeks before the coronavirus pandemic.

Copied from a colleague, certainly worth reading!

There seems to be a lot of posts from people looking for a “Last Minute Driving Instructor” and we are inundated weekly with requests to take people to test we have never met before in just a few days. So I thought I would try and help out, help you understand why you can’t find one.

Times have changed. So has the way we learn to drive…..

The Covid test backlog and certain other DVSA constraints, mean that Instructors are becoming hard to find. We all have around a 12 week + waiting list. We appreciate those pupils that take time to get in touch, we add them to our waiting list, we appreciate that they wait diligently, until their turn comes up.

As Driving Instructors, we spend hours in our car with our “own” pupils. Sometimes over weeks, months, or even years.
We see them with adrenaline filled, shaking hands and legs in the first few lessons.
We see them overcome, with sensory overload on these ever increasingly congested roads of ours.
We see them struggle from week to week – sometimes one foot forward, 2 steps back.
We see them watch bad driving from other road users, and wonder why they have to reach a much, much higher standard.
We sometimes see them struggle financially, during this horrific cost of living crisis.
We often become friends, and share their family trials, tribulations and sometimes loss.
We become their confidante, and sometimes they become ours.
We build a relationship, and commit to stick with them till the day that all their hard work pays off, and they finally pass their test, with that smiling photo on social media with a prized pass certificate in their hands.
We sometimes become mentors in life, as well as in driving.
We are more proud of them, than they will ever know.

To parents of young pupils……. you entrust us to ensure that your child (the same child that you have nurtured, guided, cherished, protected and mentored for the last 17 years) passes their test with the skill, knowledge and confidence that will keep them SAFE on the roads for the rest of their lives….. it’s a big responsibility to a Driving Instructor, and one that we don’t take lightly.

NO…… its not easy, and its not quick, but is it really worth cutting the last corner with their safety? Its certainly not cheap, there are no corners to be cut. Learning to drive takes time……

And when its your turn to be test ready, we will do all we can to help you get a test, just as soon as we can, often swapping with other instructors and spending our own time on the phone swapping things around. The Apps that come up with cancellations are the bain of our lives…. open to any chancer, be they test ready or not, more often than not resulting in a fail and increasing the already insurmountable waiting list.

Did you know that DVSA now penalise Driving Instructors? If we present a candidate to test that fails very badly, every fault made is recorded against the Instructor. If too many faults are accrued, we are hauled over the coals and can be called up for a “Check Test”. This is where our Instructional Ability is assessed, under Exam Conditions ….. as a direct result of the candidates that we present under our badge. Repeated failures of this “Standards Check” can mean that we will be struck off (regardless of our reputation, reviews or pass rate). We lose our vocation, our business, our livelihood………

We also have a working relationship with our Examiners. They know us, and we know them. Examiners have a tough job, we wont put them in danger with a dangerous candidate. We WILL NOT present a candidate to test, who is not ready. It’s a tough call and in my opinion the worst part of our job, to tell someone “you are not ready yet” and have to push their test back. Not to mention that tests slots are hard to come by. We try not to waste them.

So when we are suddenly asked, can you take me to test in 3 days time, my Instructor is “not available” (usually means the Instructor has said you are not test ready) …… is it any wonder that we won’t drop everything, push our own pupils precious lesson slot aside, put our Examiners in possible danger, and risk our own livelihood…… all because you have “found” a cancellation and want to “jump the queue” ??????

We are mostly overworked, dog tired and bone weary. But still, we do our best to look after our pupils, and help them reach that final goal. We turn up week after week, with a cheery smile and a “can do” motivational attitude (despite our burnt out clutch, scuffed alloys and sweaty seats 😀 ) We try and work around your shift patterns, even though we are sacrificing our own family time. We understand that passing your driving test means so much to you, opens so many doors and we will fully support you….. as best we can.

The best advice from Driving Instructors? Find an Instructor, do the recommended number of lessons (no matter how hard it might be to hear!). If you are not happy with your instructor, change Instructor. But work with us to make sure that when you sit your test, you have all the knowledge and practice you need, to make you safe and confident to drive unassisted.

I hope this post goes some way to help you, in understanding why you will never find a “last minute Driving Instructor”
Thanks for reading....

FIRST TIME PASS

🚘🎉👌👍

A well deserved successful driving test goes to Cerys Groom at the DVSA Driving Test Centre

You listened, you learnt, you overcame obstacles, you worked hard and now reap the benefits👍

Congratulations from Lorne and all the team at Uplands SOM.

www.uplandsschoolofmotoring.co.uk

FIRST TIME PASS

🚘🎉👌👍

A well deserved successful driving test goes to Oliver Smart at the DVSA Driving Test Centre Swansea.

Great result and a fantastic drive!!!

Congratulations from Lorne and all the team at Uplands SOM.

www.uplandsschoolofmotoring.co.uk

🚘🎉👌👍

A well deserved successful driving test goes to Mark Jones at the DVSA Driving Test Centre Swansea.

Great result and a fantastic drive!!!

Congratulations from Lorne and all the team at Uplands SOM.

www.uplandsschoolofmotoring.co.uk

🚘🎉👌👍

A well deserved successful driving test goes to Farinaz Tanhaei at the DVSA Driving Test Centre Swansea.

Great result and a fantastic drive!!!

Congratulations from Lorne and all the team at Uplands SOM.

www.uplandsschoolofmotoring.co.uk

Thank you Sheena

Too many deaths.
Too many serious collisions.
Too many families left asking how this happened.

Drug driving is not rare.
It is not exaggerated.
It is happening on British roads far more than people admit.

Recreational drugs change how your eyes look.

They change how your brain works.

Slower reactions.
Poor judgement.
False confidence.

You might feel fine.

You are not fine.

That overconfidence is the danger.
The laughter.
The “I’m alright.”
The belief that you are different. That you can handle it. That nothing will happen to you.

That is exactly what people say before something does.

Police are trained to spot the signs. Bloodshot eyes. Delayed responses. Unusual behaviour.

You are not as subtle as you think you are.

Roadside drug tests are quick. Simple. Accurate.

If you are caught, you face a minimum one year driving ban.

An unlimited fine.

Up to six months in prison.

You could lose your job.
Your licence.
Your independence.
Your future plans.

Or worse.

You could take someone else’s.

Every week there are incidents linked to drug driving. Some reach the news. Many do not. Behind every statistic is a name. A family. A knock at the door that cannot be undone.

If you think this is dramatic, look at the collision reports. Look at the sentencing outcomes. Look at the faces in the memorial photos.

This is not about scaring people for effect.
It is about reality.

Here is the confidence boost you need.

You are stronger than a substance.
You are more capable than peer pressure.
You do not need drugs to prove confidence.

Real confidence is saying no.
Real strength is protecting your licence.
Real maturity is thinking beyond tonight.

You can be the one in the group who says we are not driving like that.
You can be the one who makes the responsible call.
That is not weakness.
That is leadership.

Drug driving is not clever.
It is not funny.
It is not worth it.

One decision.

That is all it takes.

Make the right one.