When Nicole Dunn paid for 10 lessons with driving school franchise Drive Dynamics the company took £111.50 and told her she would be contacted by an instructor. She heard nothing more.
Two weeks later she called to find out what was happening. “I was told that the individual assigned to me no longer worked for the company, and that they would pass my details on to another instructor who would contact me,” Dunn says. “Again this never happened. I called customer services and was advised the original instructor does in fact still work for the company and they would get him to contact me. He didn’t.”
Dunn, 21, who is from Sunderland, requested a refund but was refused as she was outside the company’s 14-day cooling-off period. Over the ensuing weeks she made 14 calls asking to speak to a manager but was told none were available. Her attempts to make contact via the company’s webform also failed. Exactly a year on she has received neither lessons nor her money back.
Dunn is one of scores of customers who have been left out of pocket by Drive Dynamics, which describes itself as “the UK’s most liked driving school on Facebook”. After The Observer featured a similar case featuring the firm in April last year, more than 100 would-be learners complained, all with the same problem: the promised lessons never took place and the refunds didn’t materialise. Web forums tell a similar story.
Bradford-based Drive Dynamics, which offers 10 beginner lessons for £99, is a franchise with a network of self-employed instructors who pay a monthly fee to use the name, plus a commission for each pupil referred to them. Given that the average cost of a driving lesson in the UK is £24, the firm’s cut-price deals and national reach are a lure for learners on a tight budget. Equally appealing is the suggestion made by sales staff that lessons can be swiftly arranged since a national shortage of qualified instructors means waiting lists at most driving schools are long.
“We are in the perfect storm,” says Blaine Walsh, an industry adviser who runs the support and training website Driving-Instructor.tv. “The number of instructors has decreased by nearly 15% over the past four years, while there has been an increase of nearly 7% of pupils sitting the test.”
The trouble is that Drive Dynamics can’t cope with the demand it generates. Its website claims it has more than 400 instructors, but spokesman David Simister puts the number at just under 300. With 6,000 customers currently on its books, rising to 15,000 at peak times (its automated customer service line boasts that the number is 115,000), it is unsurprising that many of them never get the lessons they pay for, especially with a customer service team that has only recently increased from four to nine staff.
Linda Worger of New Malden, Surrey, bought the £99 package for her son’s birthday present in December. Eighteen days later, after she had chased the company three times, she was texted a list of dates, but when she replied she was told they were all unavailable. That was the last she heard. “I rang numerous times in January and was promised an instructor, which never happened, then promised a refund which never came, and then told that I couldn’t have my money back,” she says. “I have had to pay another instructor at a time when I can’t really afford it.”
Abdi Duale from Hull did finally get his money back, but only after hours on the phone and a string of false promises. He paid £312 in November and was promised that his lessons would start the following weekend. “I was surprised because the other driving schools I’d tried had waiting times of up to six weeks, but the sales adviser was so cheery and confident that I was sold,” he says. But when his instructor got in touch he was told he would have to wait nine weeks. He demanded a refund from Drive Dynamics and was told it would take 14 days. A month later he was still waiting.
Drive Dynamics’ terms and conditions state that although it handles payments, a customer’s contract is with the instructor assigned to them, and it is the instructor who is responsible for issuing refunds. A payment will only be refunded by Drive Dynamics if it fails to allocate an instructor within 14 days. The small print makes no provision for customers who never hear from their instructor. Moreover, staff can’t easily tell who has and hasn’t got lessons arranged because, as Simister admits to The Observer, there’s no incentive for instructors to use the centralised online diary.
The company acknowledges it has a problem. In 2015, following exposure by BBC Watchdog, the then 10-year-old business, registered as Kan Kan Ltd, went into liquidation owing more than £500,000 to creditors. In the same year a company with the same directors was registered under the name Dynamic Franchises Ltd. Although it is legally a different company, its website, which looks indistinguishable from the old one, declares that the family-run business was founded in 2005, the date Kan Kan Ltd was launched. The Kan Kan name lives on as a website for “one of the UK’s largest all-female driving schools” with the same phone number as Drive Dynamics, and with equally dismal reviews. The customer service operative who answered The Observer’s call claimed it no longer exists. Simister insists it does.
When Watchdog investigated Drive Dynamics the firm blamed its appalling customer service on its computer system. Nearly two years on the excuse is the same. “We invested a lot of time and money into a bespoke customer relationship management system, but before it was completed the company we had paid to deliver the project went into administration,” Simister says. “We are now just a month away from launching a new centralised diary system that will help iron out a lot of the issues we have been experiencing.”
The problems experienced by Drive Dynamics customers expose a loophole in the law. Individual professional driving instructors must be on the Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) register or licensed by the ADI Registrar, which are regulated by the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), but anyone can set up a driving school provided they use qualified instructors. It’s an issue that damages the reputation of the profession, according to the Driving Instructors Association. “There is merit in considering how we regulate driving school businesses,” says spokeswoman Carly Brookfield. “When companies act in an unprofessional manner clearly it impacts the customer, but it also impacts the professional reputation of the instructors working for them who are not necessarily part of the problem.”
However unsatisfactory a driving school, the regulator’s hands are tied. “The agency is only empowered to regulate the conduct of individual driving instructors, and is not empowered to regulate the conduct of corporate bodies,” says a DVSA spokesperson. Instead, complaints often fall to overstretched Trading Standards offices run by local councils. West Yorkshire Trading Standards says it is aware of Drive Dynamics. “We’ve been trying to work with them to resolve some of the ongoing issues that continue to generate complaints,” a spokesperson says.
Drive Dynamics says those customers whose complaints were passed on by The Observer have since been refunded, but many more are still waiting. Anyone who has received neither lessons nor a refund should also complain to their local Trading Standards office, which can take enforcement action.
THE KEY TO FINDING A GOOD INSTRUCTOR
Cheap lessons and availability should not determine which instructor to use, according to Carly Brookfield of the Driving Instructors Association. “Make sure you choose a fully qualified and licensed approved driving instructor (ADI). Some schools use trainees known as PDIs (provisional driving instructors) who have less experience,” she says. “Check what grade they are. Driving instructors are assessed by the Driving & Vehicle Standards Agency every four years. Grade A signifies the top performers.”
Instructors should have signed up to the ADI code of conduct, which governs all aspects of their business from teaching practices to financial management. “Ask the trainer about their ongoing training. Continuing professional development is something good instructors invest in to update their skills and knowledge. It’s a worrying sign if they are not doing this.”
Training instructor Blaine Walsh says the best instructors tend to have long waiting lists, so the first lesson should be booked several months before the driver wants to start.
“Don’t pay upfront for a block booking until you have had a couple of lessons to see if the teaching style suits you,” he advises.
This article was amended on 2 December 2021 to remove some personal information
