Introduction
The terms & conditions of business under which driving instruction is provided are outlined below. These terms & conditions of business are a contract between the client and the driving instructor & The Driving School.
Any alterations to these terms & conditions of business will always be notified to the client in writing, in advance of the change. These terms and conditions shall be construed under the laws and subject to the sole jurisdiction of the courts of England & Wales. These terms and conditions of business do not affect your statutory rights.
Code of Conduct
The driving instructor and The Driving School abide by a Professional Code of Conduct, copies of which are available on request.
Documentation
Before or on the first driving lesson, the client will be supplied with a copy of the ‘Terms & Conditions of Business’ of The Driving School, details of tuition fees, contact details of The Driving School and their Instructor, and an appointment card if required.
The client will be asked to sign a copy of the ‘Terms & Conditions of Business’ to state that they have read and agree to be bound by them.
Entitlement to Drive
The client must hold a current, valid driving licence that entitles them to drive in the UK. The client must satisfy the requirements of medical fitness to drive, including being able to read a number plate at the prescribed distance.
The driving licence must be produced at the client’s first driving lesson, and it will also be checked periodically by the driving instructor. Any points, endorsements, bans, convictions, or restrictions of any kind on your licence must be notified to The Driving School immediately.
Any medical condition or disability that might affect your ability or entitlement to drive must be notified to The Driving School immediately.
Fitness to Drive
It is the client’s responsibility to ensure that they are fit to drive. The client must inform their driving instructor or The Driving School as soon as possible of any medical condition, disability or injury that may affect their ability or entitlement to drive. The client must inform their driving instructor if they feel unwell before or during a lesson. The client must ensure that they do not drive whilst under the influence of alcohol, or drugs (some prescription and ‘over the counter’ medicines can cause drowsiness). The client should ensure that they do not arrange driving lessons at times when they are likely to be tired, stressed, or otherwise distracted. The client must wear suitable footwear, and clothing that does not restrict movement, or impede their ability to drive safely in any way. Where spectacles or contact lenses are required in order to meet the eyesight requirement for driving, they must be worn at all times while the client is driving.
Behaviour
The driving instructor & The Driving School will not tolerate any form of verbal or physical abuse, whether directed at the driving instructor, a driving examiner, or any other road user. The driving instructor reserves the right to terminate any lesson at any stage should in their sole opinion they feel that it is inappropriate to continue because of the client’s behaviour, sobriety or state of mind. In these circumstances the lesson fee is forfeit, and it is at the instructor’s sole discretion as to whether further transport is provided. The instructor or The Driving School is not liable for any cost of transport procured by the client or arising thereof.
Payments
All lessons must be paid for in advance in full within 24hrs of lesson, credit is not offered.
Any Client booking a 1 or 2 day intensive course, or, 8 or more hours (including time for driving test appointments) in any 7 day period will be asked to pay in full at least 7 days in advance of the first lesson of the booking.
This will be treated as an affirmed booking, and if any of the time booked is cancelled after the due payment date, the fee will be forfeit. Any client booking an intensive course of 3 days or above will be asked to pay in full at least 22 days prior to the course start date. This will be treated as an affirmed booking, and if any of the time booked is cancelled less than 15 days before the first day of the course, the fee will be forfeit.
Payments may be made by cash, driving app, credit, or debit card. Where a client falls into arrears with payments, The Driving School reserve the right to discontinue tuition until such time as the client’s account is brought up to date, this may include withholding the use of the driving school car for a driving test.
In the event of further action being needed to recover any monies owed further charges may be made to cover costs and administration. The client will be given written notice of other charges added.
Lesson Fees
Before or on the first driving lesson, the client will be supplied with details of tuition fees. Any alteration of tuition fees will always be notified in advance, and a copy of the new fees supplied as soon as practicable.
Change of Driving Instructor
It is the aim of The Driving School to have one driving instructor conduct all of your tuition in order to aid continuity, however it might sometimes be necessary that a change of driving instructor occurs, in these circumstances the client shall have the right to decline lessons from the replacement driving instructor.
The Driving School will not be responsible for any losses (e.g. test fees) if the client chooses to decline lessons from the replacement driving instructor.
Change of Tuition Vehicle
Tuition vehicles are periodically changed, either permanently, when a vehicle is sold, or temporarily, due to mechanical or other problems. When it is necessary to use a replacement vehicle for a driving test, every effort will be made to give the client as much notice as possible, in order that time can be arranged for familiarisation with the new vehicle, however, in the case of replacement due to mechanical problems this may not always be possible.
The Driving School will not be responsible for any losses (e.g. test fees) if the client chooses to decline lessons in the replacement vehicle.
Postponement of Lessons by The Driving School
Lessons might sometimes need to be postponed at short notice due to illness, mechanical breakdown or some other emergency or unforseen occurrence, a mutually agreeable alternative appointment will be made.
Every effort will be made to notify the client of the postponement as soon as practicable, however in some circumstances it may be difficult to notify the client in advance of their appointment time. In all other circumstances The Driving School will endeavour to keep all appointments, however when it is necessary to alter an appointment a minimum of 24 hours notice will be given.
Students who have not accessed the app or taken a lesson for more than 2 weeks will be moved to inactive and after 4 weeks will be removed from the driving school books, unless prior notice is given e.g. Holidays. Those that have been moved to inactive that wish to restart lessons will then be added to the waiting list.
Postponement of Lessons by Client
Any driving lesson appointment which the client does not keep or does not give at least 24 hours notice of cancellation will be charged for in full. Any Client booking a 1 or 2 day intensive course, or, 8 or more hours (including time for driving test appointments) in any 7 day period will be asked to pay in full at least 7 days in advance of the first lesson of the booking. This will be treated as an affirmed booking, and if any of the time booked is cancelled after the due payment date, the fee will be forfeit. Any client booking an intensive course of 3 days or above will be asked to pay in full at least 22 days prior to the course start date. This will be treated as an affirmed booking, and if any of the time booked is cancelled less than 15 days before the first day of the course, the fee will be forfeit. Notice of cancellation by the client can be given by telephone directly to your driving instructor or by telephone to the office of The Driving School. The time of cancellation will be deemed to be the time when the message is received by either your driving instructor or by the office of The Driving School, (not when the message is sent) When giving notice of cancellation of a driving lesson appointment please note that there may be a delay in the message being received if you are cancelling at weekends, bank holidays or out of office hours, so please allow extra time to avoid being charged. The Driving School reserve the right to impose a longer period of notice required for the cancellation of appointments on any client who consistently cancels lessons and also to insist on prepayment for all appointments.
Appointment Times
The client should keep a record of appointment dates and times in order to avoid missed appointments. The driving instructor will wait 10 minutes after the appointment time before deeming the lesson to have been cancelled with insufficient notice.
The driving instructor will make every effort to be punctual, however traffic conditions may sometimes make this difficult, so the client should allow a 10 minute waiting period, should the driving instructor not have arrived, or made contact with the client during the 10 minute waiting period, the client may assume the lesson to be cancelled.
The lesson will commence either at the appointed time, or the time that the driving instructor arrives, if that is later. Every student must check in for their lesson, this becomes active on the app 24hrs proir to the lesson, otherwise the lesson may not go ahead.
Driving Tests
Driving Tests should not be booked without first ascertaining the availability of your driving instructor and car, and agreement being reached with your driving instructor as to your readiness for the driving test.
Clients should notify their driving instructor of the time, date and location of their driving test as soon as practicable, and the appointment letter must be shown to your driving instructor for verification on the next driving lesson.
No responsibility will be taken by The Driving School for incorrect bookings unless the driving test appointment letter is produced. No responsibility will be taken by the driving school for driving tests booked at times when the driving instructor is unavailable.
Clients will only be allowed the use of the driving school car for a driving test if the driving instructor agrees that the client is at test standard. In the interests of road safety The Driving School reserves the right to withdraw the use of car for the driving test, when in the driving instructor’s opinion the client is not at test standard.
Where the use of the driving school car is withheld for a driving test, the driving instructor will where possible give the client sufficient notice to enable them to cancel the test without loss of the test fee, this may not always be possible when the course of tuition is of an intensive nature.
No responsibility will be taken by The Driving School for withdrawing the use of car for the driving test when, in their sole discretion the driving instructor assesses the client as not being ready for test.
Cancelled Driving Tests
When a driving test is cancelled due to mechanical failure of the driving school car, illness of the driving instructor or any other reason that is the responsibility of The Driving School then the client will be entitled to the cost of their next driving test fee to be paid for by The Driving School, this is irrespective of whether the client continues to have driving lessons with The Driving School.
The next driving test fee will not be paid for by The Driving School if the client is given sufficient notice to cancel their driving test appointment without loss of the test fee. The Driving School will not be responsible for any additional tuition fees incurred whilst waiting for the next driving test appointment. The Driving School have no control over driving tests cancelled by DVSA.
When a driving test is cancelled by DVSA the full fees due to The Driving School for driving lessons and the use of the car for the driving test are still payable in full, unless cancelled in accordance with the normal period of notice.
When DVSA cancel a driving test because there is not an examiner available it can be possible to claim back any losses incurred by the client, including a proportion of lesson fees, this is the responsibility of the client, not The Driving School.
When a driving test is cancelled because the clients documents are not in order the full fees due to The Driving School for driving lessons and the use of the car for the driving test are still payable in full, unless cancelled in accordance with the normal period of notice.
Refunds
When a client pays in advance for lessons, they shall be entitled to a refund at any time of any monies for unused lessons, for accounting purposes this refund will normally be made by BACS. When a discount has been given for the prepayment of lessons, and a refund is requested, the lessons taken by the client will be charged at the full single lesson hourly rate, and the balance refunded.
Supervision
For the purposes of assessing, maintaining and improving standards, it may occasionally be necessary for another driving instructor or driving examiner to observe a driving instructor giving tuition. The client may expect an observer to be present on any of their lessons, notice of this would usually be given in advance of the lesson, however this might not always be possible. Driving Examiners are periodically supervised conducting driving tests, therefore the client might be accompanied on their driving test by a supervising examiner, this is a legal requirement.
Lessons in Clients Own Car
All driving lessons are normally conducted in the driving school cars. On rare occasions tuition may be given in the client’s own car, this will only be done if the individual driving instructor is willing to do so, and they may require an initial driving assessment in the dual controlled driving school car before doing so.
The client’s car must be legally roadworthy, taxed, insured and have an MOT certificate (when necessary) The client’s car must be insured for the use of the driving instructor to give professional driving tuition, and for the driving instructor to drive, this must be confirmed in writing by the client’s insurance company .
The use of the client’s car is entirely at the client’s own risk, and neither the driving instructor nor The Driving School will be held liable for any damage or accident howsoever caused. There will be no alteration in fees payable in view of the increased risk and responsibility of giving tuition in a non dual controlled vehicle.
Client’s Property
The client is responsible for the care of any property they have with them when attending a driving lesson, and should ensure they do not leave anything behind. The driving instructor and The Driving School will take no responsibility for any loss of or damage to any property belonging to, or in the possession of the client.
Legal Liability
The client, in accordance with road traffic law, is legally responsible for any traffic offences that occur whilst they are in charge of the vehicle. The driving instructor will endeavour to train the client to the highest possible standard, however they can not be held responsible for the standard of driving or any errors that are committed whilst they are not giving tuition, either before or after the client passes a driving test.
Complaints
If the client is not happy with any aspect of tuition, or of the standard of service offered, they should either raise the matter with their driving instructor, or if they prefer with The Driving School, with the minimum delay, and not later than seven days from the date of the cause of the complaint.
Every effort will be made by the driving instructor / driving school to resolve any complaint or issue. If the client and The Driving School cannot reach a satisfactory agreement then the client can approach ‘The Approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council (ADINJC)’for non binding arbitration.
COVID-19
Terms and Conditions
To safeguard you, me and my other students while COVID-19 remains a threat it will be necessary to abide by the following additional terms and conditions. These terms and conditions are designed to help reduce the risk of contracting or transmitting the virus while taking driving lessons. Where there is any conflict between my standard terms and conditions of service and those listed below, these take precedence.
1. What are the risks of contracting COVID-19 COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and in some cases death. I will do my best to minimise the risk to you by sanitising those surfaces that you might touch and by ventilating the car whenever possible before each lesson. Due to the fact we will not be able to observe the 2 metre social distancing rule while in the car, and because we will be operating in a confined space used by a number of different people, I am unable to guarantee you will not be infected by COVID-19 during your driving lessons.
2. Accept full responsibility should you or a member of your household become infected By undertaking driving lessons with me you are agreeing to
- accept full responsibility (except where I am negligent) for any loss, cost or expense you might incur should you contract COVID-19 or pass it on as a result of taking driving lessons with me
- not take any action against me to recover any such loss, cost or expense.
3. Consider whether you or a member of your household might be particularly vulnerable If you or any persons you are likely to be in contact with are at risk of having a severe form of the illness as a result of being infected by COVID-19 (e.g. senior citizens, pregnant women and those with underlying medical conditions) please consider very carefully whether you should be taking a course of driving lessons at this point in time.
4. Immediately let me know if you or any members of your household have been exposed to serious risk of contracting COVID-19, tested positive for it, advised to self-isolate or shown symptoms of it. If you know you may have potentially been in a situation where you or any member of your household may have contracted COVID-19, been tested positive for it, advised to self-isolate (e.g. NHS Test and Trace or equivalent) or shown symptoms (see below) it is vital that you let me know as soon as possible. Please note, I do not need personal details of any individual to whom this may relate.
COVID-19 symptoms include:
- a high temperature (38C or above)
- a new, continuous dry cough
- unexplained loss or change to your (or their) sense of smell or taste
This list is not exhaustive. For the latest information please refer to the Government guidelines or refer to https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/
Without charge to you this will help me to decide whether it will be necessary to postpone any future lessons until it is safe to continue based on the latest Government guidelines. Should I discover you could have given me more notice of this I reserve the right to charge you for any driving lessons postponed.
5. Be prepared to answer truthfully any questions I might ask before any driving lesson about potential COVID-19 exposure or symptoms I may need to ask you questions about whether you have been in contact with people:
- who might be infected (e.g. advised to self-isolate) or
- who might have recently returned from abroad or
- who you know are definitely infected or
- who are particularly vulnerable to a severe form of the COVID-19 illness (also see 3 above).
I will also need to ask you about whether you or indeed anyone else in your household have experienced symptoms (see 4 above). In this regard I may need to take your temperature using a non-contact thermometer. Please note I do not need personal details of any individual to whom the above may relate.
Without charge to you, I reserve the right to postpone the lesson if I suspect you may have symptoms consistent with being infected by COVID-19 or have been seriously exposed to it until it is safe to continue based on the latest Government guidelines. Should I discover you could have given me more notice of this information I reserve the right to charge you for any driving lessons postponed as a result.
6. Reciprocal information about me and the need for action regarding points 4 to 5 I will inform you if I suspect I or anyone in my household have:
- been exposed to a serious risk of contracting COVID-19 or
- tested positive for COVID-19 or
- exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 infection or
- been advised to self-isolate.
If so, I may need to postpone your driving lessons (including attending any driving test) and self-isolate, based on current Government advice, for at least 14 days or indeed longer in the case of a severe infection. In this instance any scheduled lessons would be carried forward until I was in a position to resume training.
7. Wear a face covering or mask during the lesson The wearing of a face covering or mask is recommended if social distancing is not possible. Therefore, I will require you to wear a face covering or mask during the lesson. Please bring your own face covering or mask, which should be one that you feel comfortable wearing. This must not interfere with your ability to drive safely.
Please notify me at least 48 hours prior to any driving lesson if you do not have a suitable face covering or mask. I may be able to supply a disposable mask or a reusable mask at an additional cost. I reserve the right to postpone the lesson in this situation without charge. However, should insufficient notice be given and you turn up for a lesson without a suitable face covering or mask I also reserve the right to postpone and charge for the lesson.
8. Endeavour to properly wash your hands and face just prior to each lesson If at all possible, please wash your hands and face thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds immediately prior to attending a driving lesson. I will still require you to sanitise/wash your hands, after fitting a face covering or mask and prior to entering the car, using a suitable product that I will supply for this purpose. If you can not do this for medical reasons you may be required to wear suitable gloves instead. I will also make sure my hands are clean or suitably gloved as the case may be. At certain intervals it may be necessary for you to re-apply hand sanitiser or wash as I direct.
9. Avoid having to bring any extra objects to the driving lesson Please be mindful not to bring any objects with you that may potentially be a carrier for COVID-19, if at all possible. You can bring your phone with you provided it is switched off and can be kept on your person. Anything that cannot be kept on your person will need to be placed in a plastic bag or container provided by me for this purpose and returned to you at the end of the lesson.
10. Avoid paying in cash If you do bring cash, make sure it is the precise amount that is needed to pay for the lesson or lessons you want to purchase. I will ask you to drop it into a bag or container that I will keep for this purpose. The best way to pay for my service is to pay via online banking direct into my account. Please consult with me for other options.
11. Car ventilation It is known that COVID-19 transfer is reduced in open spaces therefore I may ventilate the car by keeping some of the windows open during the lesson. If this is not practical, I will endeavour to ventilate the car between lessons.