Bad Instructors
Whether you already have an instructor, or whether you are still looking for one, here are some signs of an instructor to give a wiiiiiide berth!
1) Poor time keeping. There is no reason for an instructor being late for a lesson. Good instructors time their lessons carefully to allow for travel between pupils. In this day of mobile phones, if he's going to be late there is no reason why he can't pull over and phone you. If he's going to be more than 15 minutes late he should give you the option of cancelling the lesson without charge. If he's often late, whether he phones you or not, dump him - it reflects a poor attitude.
2) Dirty car/dirty clothes. Both these things reflect a poor attitude. The car should be as clean as weather conditions allow and the inside should be clean and fresh - no fag smells. In particular, the windows and mirrors should be clean for good visibility. Many instructors dress casually these days - that's cool, but they should still be clean and fresh. You don't want to sit next to a stinky instructor for two hours do you?! He should understand that.
3) Piggy backing. Some instructors will suggest to their pupils that, while they're on a lesson, they pick up his next pupil and you drive back to your home with the next pupil in the back. Sometimes they use the excuse that this practice helps the pupil in the back watch another learner. This is a lie. The only reason the instructor wants to 'piggy back' is to save travel time and distance between lessons. It is for his benefit - not yours. It even means he would have to route your lesson to the next pupil's house and that route may not be good for what you are learning that day. Dump the instructor who suggests a piggy back.
4) The instructor/school insists on two hour lessons. Click here to read why this is a very bad thing.
5) Shouting. If your instructor ever snaps or shouts at you, end the lesson and find a new one.
6) General drives. All lessons should have a clear plan of what you are trying to achieve. Other than assessment lessons, if your instructor says at the beginning of a lesson "Right, today we are doing a general drive", this really means he hasn't bothered to do a lesson plan and he's going to see what pops up. That's no good to you because, by the end of the lesson, you will have no idea if you've achieved anything at all.
7) Physical contact. A complete no-no.
8) Stopping off during lessons. If the instructor stops somewhere to go to the loo, or whatever, he's doing it on your time. Other than emergencies, he should have no reason to give you anything other than his full time.
9) Other things to watch for: Making/receiving phone calls during the lesson; having a 'pink' licence or no licence displayed; driving an old/damaged car; being rude to other road users; running down other instructors; getting lost; etc. etc.. You get the drift by now!
