About National Driving School

Be Careful About Illegal Driving Instructors

2009-03-19T23:51:00.000-07:00

The number of rouge driving instructors teaching illegally is steadily rising.

A recent stop and search by police in Bradford around a driving test centre netted many illegal instructors. Some had expired licences, and been removed from the DSA instructor register or had failed their professional exams and were teaching illegally.

'These measures are a good thing' said a local qualified instructor 'these guys teach from as little as £5 and put it into the minds of other students that this is a reasonable price for lessons' he went on 'ive had people phone me up for lessons trying to haggle on price before they have even seen the standard of my teaching'.

At National we support such measures that stop the devaluation of a serious qualified skill.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

Driving Test Prices Going Up

2009-03-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

Recently the DSA announced that it will again putting prices up for driving test fees. This increase applies to all tests both theory and practical for all types of vehicles and qualifications.

And in past many, many years everytime they increase the charges they have made sure not to increase the compensation for test cancellations.

This it seems is an unfair situation especially in the current economic climate when students take days of work only to be told that their examiner was delayed on the test before and cannot conduct their exam.

They have also stopped handing out compensation claim forms to students in an attempt to decrease the number of claims, and advise students to download it from the website.

Even if all this is done, the compensation paid is always halved to the amount claimed and the hire of the driving school car is limited for some unquantifiable reason to just one and a half driving lesson prices. Now this is very unfair as car hire for the day of the test is never that cheap, even in the most remote parts of the UK.

It is high time complaints were made to the transport minister to have changes made.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

Driving Lessons Quality vs Price

2009-03-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

As more and more driving instructors qualify ther is a steady increase in those deciding to set up their own driving schools. Unfortunately, for the industry to much competition can be a bad thing. As quality of service differs greatly accross the various companies.

A recent survey conducted by National driving school found that in SW London, there are many driving schools that prefer to use partly qualified instructors to teach their pupils. Who then in turn find themselves in the unfortunate position of failing their driving tests several times. And these schools are the ones that undercut quality schools on price.

Research showed that of all the driving schools surveyed in the boroughs of Wandsworth, Kingston, and Merton. 70% of schools were more interested in making money from the weekly franchise payments by instructors than in students welfare or progress. With 90% of schools not ensuring that students were progressing well or happy with their instructor.

Research also found that prospective learner drivers do not really know what is a good deal with regards to their driving tuition. With over 80% of students not even knowing if their instructor was indeed fully qualified or indeed if any of his or her students had even passed in the last few weeks. And 99% of students did not know that their are gradings and standards of instructors distinguishing between quality of tuition given.

A grade 6 is the highest grade while a grade 4 is the minimun required to be fully qualified. Part qualified instructors can be as low as grade 1 with a high student test failure rate as they have yet to pass their final instructor exams.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

Learner driver crashes into driving test center

2009-03-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

On friday the 13th evening outside the Tolworth, Surrey DSA driving test center. A student on a driving lesson suprised his driving instructor by crashing straight into the building whilst attempting to park in the bays in front.

Shocked the instructor, from one of the UK's largest driving schools, jumped out to assess the damage. While the student hung his head in shame.

Fortunately little was damaged appart from ego. But it just goes to show why so many people avoid booking driving tests on a friday the 13th.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

Driving and its Implications in the courts

2009-03-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

With recent news regarding driving and its legal implications in the courts.
We find expereinced drivers who have killed a pedestrain to be considered to have broken the law whilst using a hand free device and examiners successfully winning cases of negligent driving by a learner on a test and then asking the courts to consider a £15,000 compensation claim.

Such legal cases whilst should be considered on their own circumstances, have serious repurcussions throughout further possible cases being brought to court. In short it seems the rules don't apply when high court judge's feels like it.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

Texting and driving more dangerous than driving under influence of drink or drugs

2009-03-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

According to research by the RAC fifty percent of young drivers up to the age of 24 years admit to texting while driving.

In the first of its kind in the UK. Research by the Transport Research Laboratory commissioned by the RAC, found that drivers who text drift out of lanes and do not leave a safe following distance more often than drivers under the influence of drink or drugs.

Even in the light of this report the RAC has not recommended a change in the law. The current law stipulates that texting while with a phone in a cradle is permitted as long as the driver has proper control of the car.

The crown prosecution service will however fine a driver £60 and add three penalty points to their licence if they are deemed to be out of 'proper control'. And will also pursue a case of dangerous driving if an accident occurs as a direct result.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

How to save Fuel

2009-02-22T02:29:00.001-08:00

Top 10 tips, save up to £150 per year.
1. Try to make sure your car is as light in weight as possible. Avoid unnecessary items in the boot, back seat or foot wells. Extra weight means a harder working engine and more fuel being consumed.
2. Make sure Air Conditioning is switched off or on economy mode unless necessary. Air con, works through engine reving and makes your engine work harder.
3. Remove all items on the car that make it unaerodynamic eg roof racks, roof boxes etc. These create extra drag forcing engine to work harder.
4. Make sure tyre pressures are inflated correctly. The more round the tyre the more economically it propells the car, making the engine work less.
5. Make sure to accelerate and brake smoothly, accerating and braking harshly consume a lot of fuel. Try to change gears smoothly up at 2000 to 2500 rev's. And try to brake in advance of any stop lines.
6. Try to stay within the speed limit and change gear to the highest most comfortable gear for the car. Eg 4th gear for 30 mph or 5th gear for 40mph. Don't use 5th gear on a 20mph zone as this has the opposite effect and again forces the engine to work harder.
7. Reverse park when you get to your destination. So when you start your journey and your car is on auto choke (ie reving heavily to warm up) you don't waste valuable fuel reversing. Try to also ensure gates and garage doors are open before starting to avoid waiting around.
8. Keep to the '2 second rule' avoid getting to close to cars in front to avoid extra braking. Also accelerate lightly trying to use the accelerator liberally.
9. Switch of the engine anywhere you feel you are waiting for more than 3 minutes eg railway crossing.
10. Last but not least, try to avoid using the car for any local journeys. Walk or cycle to the local shops etc.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051

Artificial snow closes roads in China

2009-02-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

12 highways were closed on thursday after heavy snow fall in Beijing. The snow closed major roads and routes into and out of the city. Similar to snow falls that brought the UK to a halt earlier this month.

State media reported the snow was as a result of clouds being artificially seeded to enduce heavy snow in response to China worst drought for 38 years.

313 sticks of silver iodide were fired into clouds to enduce heavy snow, it is hoped that the snow will create moisture in the soil helping end the drought.

National Driving School
Telephone: 020 8241 5522
Free Phone: 0800 043 4051