To ask how the f*ck you are meant to learn to drive these days?

[trapperjohna]

My 19 year old’s test has been cancelled 3 times by the test centre, and that’s post Covid restrictions! It went from December to March to June to August! She’s given up now, has thrown in the towel and is getting rid of her car. She wants to go travelling but was postponing it to get her driving license first (she doesn’t need one for the travelling but she wanted to get it out of the way). She’s sick of waiting. Lessons were a shitshow as well, she got a pisstaker who had her doing left and right turns 8 lessons in even though by this point she was proficient in doing dual carriageways and major roundabouts with her stepdad. She originally got him through a company and he was great but then he went self-employed, upped his prices and seemed to be deliberately not progressing her and started hounding her to book lessons with him. But nobody else had availability.

DD knows of a lad that’s booked a test in some obscure town on the south coast where his grandparents live to get it done ASAP as they had more availability and he’s going to spend the week down there with his grandparents to learn the area and prepare. We are in fucking Liverpool!

DSS is 17 and apparently kids at his college are trying to sell their tests to each other at inflated prices! What is going on?

Not to sound like a nutter, but at this point in starting to wonder if it’s a government conspiracy to combat air pollution!

We’re in Scotland and 18 yr old dd having issues too, she booked a test thinking she was starting lessons then her instructor couldn’t fit her in, she started lessons now but won’t be ready for the booked test. 20 yr old son was supposed to sit his test 1st april 2020, he missed the boat when everything started up again then went away to uni and hasn’t started again. He’ll get some lessons over the summer but I’m going to encourage him to do his in his uni town (although as it’s 350 miles away he won’t get out to practice with us). It’s a total nightmare, so hard for them. We live in a small village with not great transport so they have to rely on us for lifts.

OP I know you're DDs frustration.....been trying to get that 'pink licence' for 4yrs now. First instructor, also self employed, i had for yr1, very pasive agressive, kept implying I needed more lessons and being clueless as having no one to practice with I believed him and kept paying 😑. Yr 2 Covid, lockdown. Yr 3 find myself an new, patient and honest instructor, my theory ran out, had to resit it and pay again even though it was covid that ment It couldn't be used😣, lockdown, restrictions on learning ect. Yr 4 (this year) I have failed 1 test which I waited 8mths got and to book another it's a rough 7mth wait. I have spent roughly £4000 trying to do this. If I didn't have a disabled child that needs me to drive I would have jacked it in a year ago.

Anyone else sick of covid being an excuse ? I worked throughout all of the pandemic had to walk 6 miles a day for work because the buses wasn’t running and no didn’t get slimmer just sore feet ,things are more or less back to normal now so should driving lessons and GP surgeries !

I'm so shocked at some of these stories, it isn't great is it?! I passed my theory test a day or so before they stopped all tests, I am lucky that I was able to book a test in January for March, and found an instructor willing to squeeze me in for a lesson each week running up to it. I'm glad I passed first time, but... my instructor pointed out that there were several no shows for tests, so many test slots being wasted - maybe due to people having covid and not turning up or just not being ready but such a waste when people are clearly so desperate to get a test date.

OP, maybe the instructor was focusing on your daughters weak points, she may have mastered trickier manoeuvres but maybe she needed to brush up on some of the basics?

I taught my son and one of my daughters to drive.

Tests are like rocking horse poo where I live. I know two people who waited 6 months for a test in a town half an hour away as the waiting list for the local test centre is over a year! There's not even an actual examiner based in our area any more, one comes from the next town over to cover a few but lots get cancelled due to her being committed to working at her usual base! It's crazy!
A family member of mine failed hers this week after waiting 7 months, she was gutted but she just wasn't confident driving in an area she doesn't know very well. She's been rrying to.get a cancellation locally since November and literally think.shed have a better chance of winning the lottery!

My now, almost 26yr old son started taking lessons through a big company 4yrs ago.
On his 3rd lesson the instructor said that he was to pay him directly, in cash, from his next lesson and not to go through the company, which he did.
He paid for blocks of 5x2hr lessons because it worked out a bit cheaper.
All was going well until he paid for his third block (he paid for 10x2hr lessons because he wanted to do 2x2hr each week), he went out on his final lesson of the second block and only 15mins into it they witnessed a serious incident which really shook him up and he didn't feel able to finish the lesson, so the instructor took him home and said that he would have to charge him for one hour that day but the other hour would be added back onto the hours he'd just paid for.
A few days later, my son was waiting for the instructor to pick him up for his next lesson but he didn't show up. He called him several times and eventually got hold of him 3 days later and the instructor said he thought he didn't want to continue with lessons, so he'd given his time to someone else. If my son wanted to continue with lessons he'd have to wait 6 months or find someone else to teach him. My son asked about the 21hrs he'd paid for and he just said that he wouldn't get a refund but if he would wait, he could have those lessons.
So he waited, and waited and waited.
Then he got a job in a different part of the country but he kept contacting the driving instructor but he never had any availability with yet another 3 or 4 month wait each time he called. Then the pandemic hit although my son kept on contacting the instructor and he's even been in touch since and now the instructor has taken a different direction when my son contacts him, he now says that my son can't prove he paid for these lessons plus its been over 3 years since he had any lessons so he'd have to start from scratch again and he isn't prepared to take on a newbie now.
So all in all, my son is now not only over£500 out of pocket but his theory pass has expired so he'll have to retake that as well, he's decided that it's not worth trying to lath to drive now.

You're not being unreasonable, OP, I don't think people understand quite how bad it is. It's so much harder getting lessons and a test now than it was as COVID was tailing off or during the on/off restrictions. And taking a test in an unfamiliar area really isn't a solution, maybe you should be able to pass your test anywhere but...come on. It's hard enough without driving up to a junction you've never seen before.

Ugh, this has given me the fear. Currently 25 hours into a 35 hour intensive course and have test booked for next Saturday. If I fail god knows how long I'll have to wait, and I've already waited a year for the intensive course!

At midnight one night, my DD found a test on one of the last minute websites. It was 10 the next morning in a town she’d never heard of. She and DH got there at 6am, drove round and round for 4 hours, then she sat her test and passed. You have to be flexible…and brave!

It was hell for my partner so used a website that you pay a small fee and it books tests within dates you choose, he got it one town over from us and luckily passed first time. He had to do his theory test 50 miles from us though, but we made a day of it and he passed first time then too. Its so so hard. Don't even talk about finding a car to buy. Literally must have contacted 50 or more ads and they were always gone instantly but got lucky again shortly before Christmas. Was literally all about luck and just travelling a bit, so that person going to stay with their grandparents is actually pretty smart. Might aswell do that and then you've got it done forever.

DS practised at home with his dad and sat his theory on his 17th birthday

He then put in for a test in the next available centre and went 70 miles away for it. His instructor gave him a two hour lesson in this town before the test and he passed it

Otherwise we would still be waiting for a test slot locally.

Could this be an option? Get a test anywhere and go practise there?

I totally understand, my daughter booked her test in June last year, the earliest she could get was for December. She failed, but there were no tests available until May! Even that was at a test centre miles away! She booked it, but we've tried for a cancellation sooner/closer but they're like rocking horse shit! If she doesn't pass this time, the next available test is November, there's no 'retest in two weeks' even remotely possible. All her friends are in the same situation too.

When my son was 5, I got sanctioned for 6 months for not taking on a 2 hour a day 5 day a week cleaning job that started at 6am in Cardiff.......which is an hour and a half drive from me , by bus almost 3 hours at that time as its route went all over the place, I had no car and the bus service only ran mon to fri from 7.15am to 5.30pm. Even if the bus would have worked, there was no childcare or school clubs, and the wage wouldn't even have paid for one way tickets........

How long will covid be used an excuse for?
No driving lessons. Covid.
No room at A&E. Covid.
Low food supplies. Covid.
No swimming lessons. Covid.
The papery for my house got lost when I moved 3 years ago but my solicitor and land registry say I can’t make a complaint because it’s due to . . . Covid. Grrrrrrrr!!!

Wish it was a government conspiracy, but alas the current government is not smart enough to be proactive in reducing the number of cars on the roads.

My son had a similar experience. Ended up booking a test date a ridiculous number of months in the future, but used one of the apps to be notified of cancellations. This got him a date within three weeks. You just need to be flexible about location.

If only there was free at point of use public transport paid for by taxes and that linked up nationally. That would mean far less would need to drive.
I wasn't ready for a test at 17 after 33 lessons, gave up and happily negotiated the world on public transport even with Sundays having 2 hourly services for about 6 hours in my area.

I had to learn to drive when looking after my mother who became unable to walk and when I was in my 40's.
We already know that all the cars on the roads aren't sustainable. Maybe we need to let the youngsters stop being so reliant on cars and stop employers demanding that we need to drive.
My current job is enabling people to access the community so is essentially a taxi/carer combined. A car is essential as it's part of the job. Also car ownership makes it too easy to be lazy.
Last fortnight's Private Eye had an article about all the shenanigans to do with selling on tests and how it's the richest that can get tests easier or at all in some areas.

My best friend is having the same issue - no instructor will get her from her workplace (middle of a really busy industrial estate) and it takes her two hours to get home by bus, so she also can’t find an instructor who would do a 7pm lesson! Saturdays and Sundays are booked up miles in advance and every instructor seems to want you to agree to a set slot which doesn’t really work for a weekend!