Diary Of An ADI

Archive for May, 2010

There’s a BBC show called Don’t Get Done Get Dom. Dom fights for consumers’ rights after they write in to him.

Red Driving School Logo

On this latest episode – shown today, and available on iPlayer for a limited time - he looked into the situation facing two people who had signed up to do training with Red Driving School.

One of the people was unhappy about how quickly he was getting training. The other one had suffered two heart attacks and his doctor had told him he shouldn’t teach people to drive. They had been unable to get their agreements cancelled through their own efforts, so Dom stepped in and got it sorted out.

Before the programme was aired, some of the forums were in meltdown with the usual learned opinions from the usual learned crowd. The reality was always going to be that Dom was fighting for two people who had been unable to get their agreements cancelled (even though only one of them had a cast iron reason, the other one was a little bit grey and was based on alleged promises and admittedly hard-to-get training slots). But the learned crowd – as usual – speculated that the industry was going to be turned on its head and Red would be forced to close down!

It’s worth noting that the “agreement” I refer to is that the training course costs several thousand pounds and can be paid for with a loan. The loan has an APR of around 30%, so you end up paying back almost double the original loan amount. The argument is that the first 12 months of the loan are interest free, and you pay it back out of your first year’s earnings. This is how the advertising goes.

The reality isn’t always the same as the advertising, though. It is a massive subject, but some people don’t qualify as quickly as they’d like (or in the shortest time mentioned by the advertising). Some never qualify at all (the pass rate is very low). Some decide it is too hard and give up. Undoubtedly, Red is unable to provide lessons in some cases – but by no means in all of them. And so on.

Dom and the two people he was representing referred to the number of complaints on the Internet about Red. What they didn’t make fully clear – though Dom hinted at it - is that the vast majority of those complaints are about issues which do not justify cancellation of the agreement those people signed. However, you do get situations where someone has a real and genuine claim, but it is lost in the noise made by those others, and it was two of these that Dom was dealing with.

It was also interesting that right at the end they said that Red was under new ownership and had said that it was intending to address some areas where there were problems.

I’ll tell you what, though. I’d love to be able to sit in on some of those sales meetings and listen to what really gets said. Everyone who wants to get out of their agreement – usually the day before they have to start paying it back – claims they were promised absolutely that they would pass within six weeks and be earning £30,000 within 6 months. Such claims are always dubious when you consider that anyone with an ounce of sense, and who had looked into this even a little bit, would realise that failure at the first, second, and even third attempts (Part 2 and 3) is easily possible, and that exam lead times can be several months. Add to that the people who state categorically that Red’s advertising says things it clearly doesn’t (they ignore key words like “could” and “up to”), and you just know that something is amiss.

I don’t doubt some sales reps go too far, especially if they are on commission. But not all of them.

As an aside, since the programme was shown this morning the blog is getting a lot of hits on terms like “has red gone bust”. It worries me slightly that people who are currently in training with Red or who are already involved in the industry as ADIs  don’t know what has happened. I even edited the posts about Red because it was clear people were finding the earliest post (“Red HAS Gone Bust“) and not moving on to the almost immediate update (“Red Is Saved“).

David Laws has quit after only 3 weeks as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

I find it hilarious that David Cameron should say this – of an MP in a different party to his own (Laws is LibDem):

“The last 24 hours must have been extraordinarily difficult and painful for you.

“You are a good and honourable man. I am sure that, throughout, you have been motivated by wanting to protect your privacy rather than anything else.

“In your short time at the Treasury, you have made a real difference, setting the government on the right path to tackle the deficit which poses such a risk to our economy.”

This is nonsense. He wasn’t as understanding during the previous expenses row and his contradictory attitude was one of his election manifesto items – the self-styled sheriff was going to clean up this dirty town!

Cameron would not have had this attitude if the Tories weren’t in coalition with the LibDems.

The ridiculous planned cuts to “reduce the deficit” have already got a lot of people up in arms. It has to be one of the worst starts to a new government ever.

From the DSA:

The British driving test marks three-quarters of a century of helping keep people safe on the road when it turns 75 on Tuesday 1 June.

The first car and driving licences were introduced in Britain in 1903. But it was not until 1 June 1935 – amid rising numbers of deaths as the popularity of the car increased – that a compulsory driving test was introduced.

The first driver to pass was Mr J Beene and within a year, the number of deaths on the road had fallen by 1,000.

In 1934, 7,343 people were killed on the roads and there were 1.5 million cars. The latest figures show there were 2,538 deaths on the roads in 2008 when there were around 34 million cars.

Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said: “The driving test is not just a rite of passage, it has helped save thousands of lives on our roads.

“The test and the learning needed to pass it are a vital part of giving drivers the skills they need to drive efficiently and safely.

“High standards of driver training and assessment are an essential contribution to helping Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world.”

Trevor Wedge, Chief Driving Examiner at the Driving Standards Agency, said: “The driving test still retains some of the original elements included in 1935, such as turning in the road and reversing, but it is updated regularly. We continue to make sure that the test properly prepares drivers for the demands of modern roads.

“This year will see the introduction of independent driving into the test, to help candidates demonstrate their ability to drive without step-by-step instruction. We believe that this added element will lead to better and safer drivers.”

Facts and figures:

• the test became compulsory on 1 June 1935, after being introduced on a voluntary basis on 16 March the same year
• the test was suspended during World War II and the Suez Crisis – examiners were put in charge of fuel rationing instead
• until 1975, candidates still had to demonstrate hand signals
• the theory test was introduced in July 1996 

It’ll be interesting to see what the outdated fossils on some of the forums have to say about this.

You don’t really notice it until you think about it, but the number of cars on the road has increased enormously. I can remember driving to gigs at Wembley and getting an almost free run up and down the M1… then I can remember regular congestion starting around the Watford Gap services going South… then later around Junction 24 going North… finally, the gridlock you sometimes see today.

New drivers have to cope with far different conditions these days - indeed, conditions which are changing dramatically from year to year.

EDIT 28/06/2010: A more recent email from the DSA:

It’s celebration time this month as we mark the British driving test’s 75th anniversary.

Since a Mr J Beene took the first ever driving test in 1935, over 94 million tests have been conducted in Great Britain, playing a vital role in making the country’s roads a far safer place.

In the 1930s, there were only 1.5 million cars in the UK, but over 7,000 people a year were being killed on the roads; more than twice the present level – when traffic levels are 20 times higher.

To honour the test’s 75th anniversary, in this month’s Despatch we look at the history of the driving test, assessing the impact it’s had on road safety and its evolution over the years.

We also meet some long-serving ADIs who have plenty to say about their own experiences of the driving test.

The road safety industry can rightly be proud of the achievements of driver training and testing in this country since the first test in 1935, but the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has its eyes firmly on the future as we continue to implement the Learning to Drive (L2D) programme.

This month you will find information about some of the programme’s key policies: independent driving, observer on test and continuing professional development.

So happy reading! I hope you find the information useful, and as always, thank you for all the hard work that is being done across the country.

Rosemary Thew
Chief Executive, Driving Standards Agency

You can read the latest issue of Despatch here. Despatch is the official DSA magazine for road safety professionals.

I keep getting hits for this – I mentioned it in a post earlier this year. It is one of the things Red Driving School had listed under its assets when it was put up for sale.

Here is the outline from the Trademark application LVG made in the USA (in 2009, granted this year):

Trademark Application For Spyda

I’m a little confused by the amount of interest there is in this. Indeed, the title of this blog attracts a lot of people who are searching based on the words “ADI” and “diary”, so there is obviously a lot I am missing.

Spyda appears to be oriented towards franchisers – the part about “payments in car” and “payments with head office” give that away. Not many solo ADIs can justify having a merchant account that lets them take credit card payments in the car – it just isn’t cost effective.

I always think that ADIs make life very complicated for themselves. A mobile PDA running Outlook and a PC/laptop with Outlook are just about all you need – sync them and you have up to date files very quickly. Add mobile Excel and you can sync pupil records.

Mind you, if offered the choice of the two products shown below, I’m pretty sure I know which one many ADIs would go for – even if they had to pay twice as much for it:

Next Year's Diaries Go On Sale

This is the whole point: you don’t need fancy software to run your business if you are solo. The more complicated it is, the greater your overheads – and it’s hard enough as it is.

For franchisers, though, it is different. Administration is easier if you have a centralised system.

Just had an email alert from the DSA:

May bank holiday travel advice
Travellers are advised to check for delays and cancellations before beginning journeys this bank holiday weekend.

As many as 15 million cars are likely to take to the roads this bank holiday weekend.

With schools breaking up for half-term, roads are expected to be particularly busy on Friday 28 May, and again on Saturday.

The AA predict that routes to the south west of England are likely to be the busiest, with congestion also expected on main routes to the coast and national parks.

The Highways Agency is due to complete 23 sets of roadworks before the weekend and is suspending 31 other sets from 6.00 am on Friday until midnight on bank holiday Monday.

Although 32 sets of roadworks will remain in place over the weekend, including those on a section of the M25 in Hertfordshire.

The Highways Agency is telling people to check their journey before leaving.

Read more and watch the video

The Met Office weather forecast looks good (which means it might be cold and wet, or it might be hot and sunny). The May Bank Holiday is the bank holiday formerly known as Spring Bank Holiday, by the way.

I’ll be working , though.

There’s a debate/argument going on on one of the forums (the one where the crazy people all go) about the GDE Matrix and “coaching”.

In a nutshell, you have one group who believe that no ADI currently instructs properly unless they have been trained to “coach” using the GDE Matrix, and another group who believes that the GDE Matrix is anything from a complete waste of time all the way up to just putting into a lot of words what they already do.

One poster has said:

Imagine a 18 year old, who in training are great but how will their behaviour change going to meet a friend with 3 of his mates in the car. What is his main goals for this journey? Well, almost certainly to get there safely, but what other goals are there here? Perhaps showing his mates what a good driver he is? What could this mean in practice? Possibly driving quickly? And what happens if these goal causes a misjudgement – crash!

Behaviour is related to context, encouraging a driver to recognise this and to develop coping strategies is what level 3, is about, as well as the environmental issues outlined above. Of course the next question is how do your raise this awareness and get past the ‘Oh no I would never do anything like that, I will always drive exactly how you taught me’ response? Well one approach is coaching.

Tonight, after my last lesson, I was nipping to the local Asda. As I came down Loughborough Road, past the fire station where the speed limit drops from 40mph to 30, I noticed a silver Corsa (blacked out windows, of course) come flying up behind me. He came right up to tailgate me, then decided to overtake – which meant he had to go around one of those pedestrian islands - right outside West Bridgford school – on the opposite side of the road. There was a car coming the opposite way.

As usual, the little moron got away with it. But I bet mummy and daddy don’t know he drives like that. But if they did know, would they care? They’re probably out telling everyone how good he is.

You see, this is where the problem lies. It isn’t the driving instructor’s fault that little Johnny or Laurie drive like prats. It’s the parents who are to blame – for never having said “no”, and for buying their little darlings pratmobiles to try and kill themselves in.

You see it time and time again. There is no way some greasy-faced little chav can afford a brand new Corsa (certainly not as many of them as you see driving the damned things). It’s mummy and daddy again. It’s also mummy and daddy who are to blame for letting little Johnny get the sports model, fit a noisy exhaust, stick blue LEDs all over it, get a dodgy licence plate, and get the windows blacked out. In fact, all the things that say “I’m going to drive this like I’m at the Monaco Grand Prix, even though the ink is still wet on my licence”.

I recently got the urge (again) to get my motorcycle licence. I remember when I was 17, my dad told me that if I ever got a motorbike he’d kick me out of the house. When I told him I was planning to do it this time, he said if I did it while he was still alive he’d disown me. He meant it, too.

My, how things have changed.

But back to this crap about “coaching” people. The implication is always that by coaching someone on driving lessons, you can turn a pot-smoking hoodie into a prime minister. This is total bollocks.

As the example from tonight shows (and this is something I see every day - it isn’t just a one-off), these prats drive the way they want to. The only input an ADI can have is to make sure they at least know how to drive properly. That they have been given the right tools and taught to use them.

But whether they choose to use them is not going to be influenced by their driving instructor, with whom they spend around 40 hours in total. Over the 20 weeks or so that they have those 40 hours of driving lessons, they spend another 3,300 hours with mummy and daddy and their idiot friends. That’s 1% of their time on lessons, 99% with mummy and daddy and primates similar to themselves.

It isn’t hard to see where the responsibility for them driving like prats really lies.

Over on one of the forums they’re having another go at the DSA (in relation to asking the candidate if they want their instructor on the debrief). One “expert” says:

Some people in the DSA get a bit above themselves at times and give the rest a bad name.

On the same forum, in another currently active thread, another ”expert” posts (in relation to coaching):

Interesting discussion.

I myself am an expert – but what is an expert?

It’s a good job certain ADIs don’t get “a bit above themselves” isn’t it?

My last two instructor cars have been Ford Focuses, and both have had the same fault:

• when idling, car sounds like it is gasping for air
• sometimes makes whistling noises when idling (like a fan going fast)
• sometimes makes clicking sounds when idling (like a switch operating repeatedly)
• revs falling on idle, lights dimming when it happens
• sometimes spontaneously stalling if rev count falls too much
• with learners, can stall on a bend if they coast – and the power steering stops working (very dangerous)
• with me, can stall when braking to a stop at junctions and lights (annoying)
• starts up again easily
• it might be playing up badly, it’ll stall, but after you restart it it will behave (more or less) until the problem gets bad again
• tends to do it most when warmed up – but not always
• occasionally, when decelerating, you can feel the loss of power in the background
• sometimes when moving off, shudders as if not enough gas is applied

The dealer couldn’t find a fault with the last one (they just plug a laptop into it and if no fault is shown, as far as they’re concerned there isn’t one).

Ford Logo

They told me last time that there was definitely no fault, and that learner cars aren’t driven very hard so they clog up and it is necessary to run them at high revs for about 10 seconds (when coming off a motorway, slip it into 2nd, for example) to “blow it out”. They told me there wasn’t a known issue, and they even said that it is normal for cars to fluctuate a little.

Frankly, all of this was utter bollocks. But when my new one started playing up after I’d traded the old one in before the warranty ran out, I tried what they had suggested about “blowing it out” - if anything, it made it worse.

This time, they tried to suggest it was my foot mats under the pedals. They also told me I needed to put high-grade fuel in it! Yeah, I’m definitely going to pay 10p a litre more for 97 RON, when 95 RON is what the car is supposed to run on as a minimum – especially when I am filling up every other day sometimes.

Ford Focus

But I looked into it this time. It turns out that there is a huge number of people who have this exact problem with their Focuses. All kinds of suggestions are offered, but it is common that the service centres cannot find anything wrong, when there clearly IS something wrong.

Now, I knew this new car would develop the same fault as the last one from the moment I took delivery. It was gasping and clicking even with just delivery mileage on the clock. And true to form, after about 8k it started to fluctuate noticeably, and by 12k it was stalling sporadically. A couple of weeks ago a pupil who has a habit of coasting (many years driving experience overseas) put the clutch down going round a tight corner and we nearly ended up in railings as the power steering cut out!

Armed with what I’d found, I confronted the local Ford dealer.

To cut a long story short, they replaced the “throttle case” and it has fixed the problem completely. The car now idles constantly.

Don’t be fobbed off. Make a nuisance of yourself if your Focus is playing up.

A while back, I bought some stuff from the Marr Green farm shop in Burbage, down in Wiltshire. I often do this to stock up the freezer – not just from Marr Green, but also Red Down farm shop near Highworth/Swindon (I get my eggs from them).

Beef On The Rib

Most of Marr Green’s meat is locally produced, and one item I bought some time last year was a large piece of beef on the rib. I’ve never cooked this cut of meat before, and that is probably why it spent so long in the freezer! But the weather-related food poisoning epidemic my pupils have encountered the last two days meant that I was going to cook a decent meal tonight.

I wouldn’t have bothered posting this if it wasn’t for the fact that it was the tenderest, best flavoured beef I have ever eaten.

Cooking was easy – I just rubbed sea salt into it to season it, seared it on all sides in a little olive oil, then cooked it for 30 minutes in the oven on gas mark 9, reducing to gas mark 4 for 20 minutes per half kg. I let it rest in foil for 30 minutes before carving – it was like cutting butter with a hot knife!

I don’t know if it was the fact that it was from Marr Green’s herd, or just that this cut of meat is so good. But it was delicious.

Someone should do a proper scientific study, but there seems to be a correlation between hot summer weather and the incidence of “food poisoning”. Because you can be bloody sure that as soon as it gets hot, people start looking for reasons not to have the lesson they booked as recently as last week.

I don’t mind too much, because it’s only a handful, and the last month or so I’ve not had a moment free or slots to spare for anyone wanting a lesson.

So, having acquired a free afternoon and evening, I came home and turned on the TV. Now, even with several hundred channels through the Sky dish, it is impressive that there can be almost nothing of interest shown on any of them for such long periods of time. And this afternoon is no exception.

After much channel-hopping, I caught the end of “Adolf Hitler – My Part In His Downfall” (one of Spike Milligan’s autobiography books, turned into a film). It occurred to me after only a couple of minutes how badly I would have coped with the Second World War or anything to do with the British Army anytime before the 60s. It reminded me of another war film that drove me nuts - “The Password Is Courage”; oh yes, and “The Great Escape”. And “Bridge On The River Kwai”. Come to think of it, all British war films (or films about the British during the war).

All the British ever seemed to do was sing bloody 30s and 40s songs and whistle idiotic tunes, and behave in obscenely stereoptypical ways straight out of Enid Blyton books. It would have driven me insane (assuming the reality was even close to the way the films portray it).