Driving Instructor has taken my money and not provided lessons

[Hotgoose]

Hi,

so I’m not sure where to go next and hoping someone can advise.

I had 10 hours of lessons with a driving instructor, just a one man band type one, all fine.
Paid for £200 for some more lessons and suddenly his car has broken down, had loads of messages about the car from him, he kept saying he’d transfer the money but the dates kept getting further in the future. This was a month ago and still no sign of the money.

He’s vanished off social media as well.
He is responding when I text/ring but just keeps saying he’ll send it when the insurance pays out for his car. I don’t believe a word of it anymore.

How do I get my money back? Can I or is it a lost cause?

Small claims court (it costs £35 and you can file a claim online). It's very easy

Is he registered with the official body for driving instructors? We threatened DH's instructor with that when he did similar, and he paid up.

But what I did first was pretend to be a new driver looking for lessons when he cancelled on my husband yet again, and weirdly both he and the car were fine for that... So we were armed!