Advice please!

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26 Jan 2007
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Hi there, I recently passed my driving test, and, on the day of my test, after I had passed, my instructor asked me if I wanted to do a pass plus.

Now, at the time he asked me I knew it cost a few hundred pounds so I just replied saying that I wasn't really sure. However he said that he had just signed up to a new scheme in which you do your pass plus, which costed £80, then through this Government run scheme, they would give you £70 back once you have completed the pass plus.

At the time my instructor made it clear that it would effectively cost £10 to get my pass plus and this would be done over 2 hours of driving lessons and would consist of going on the motoway and some country lanes.

Now, after hearing this I decided that I would do it. After speaking to m8s they said that they were sure that the pass plus was way more than 2 hours and consisted of other things such as night driving. I too thought this was right, however I thought that they must have changed it and now they offered different levels of the pass plus.

Anyway, on the day of my pass plus, my instructor turned up, I do the motoway and country driving, which I should ad, that I only drove about 10 minutes on the country and the rest on the motoway, also it was not the supposed 2 hours but instead 1 hour 40 minutes.

So, after ive done the driving I pull up to my house and he gives me a sheet that I have to sign. At the time I didnt really look at the sheet but he just explained to me that I had to sign here, here and here. He then turned the sheet over and on the back he had written that I had done 12 hours of driving ( even though I had only done 1 hour 40), also stating I had done town driving, night driving, motoway, country etc.

Overall he had made out I had done 2 hours driving for each section, in which there were 6 sections. Bearing in mind these lessons should have taken place AFTER I had passed my test, he tried to claim that I had done most of these in my driving lessons, which was before I had passed my test. Also he had written dates on the back for when I had done the supposed pass plus lessons, and these dates hadnt even come yet. At the time I didnt really know what to say so I just left it at that and went back indoors.

After looking at the sheet I decided that I didnt feel right signing the declaration stating that I had done 12 hours of driving. After speaking to my parents I got my Dad to ring my instructor up explaining that I didnt feel right sending the sheet off. They stated how they were saving me money by doing it, but still my Dad said that I wasnt sending the sheet off. Anyway the bloke said he would bring the cheque that I had given him of £80 back, and once this was done he wanted the sheet that had all his signitures on saying that I had had lessons which never happened.

He then rang back again saying that he would take me out for free to complete the rest of the pass plus lessons, however I declined as I obviously wouldnt feel comfortable doing it with him. Then after the phone call the headguy of the business rang and he also offered to take me out for free, but I again declined.

Then we never heard anything from them for ages, and now ive just looked at my online banking to find that hes cashed the cheque of £80.

Now, if he had told me the truth at the start then I obviously wouldnt have done the pass plus and would have not spent my £80.

Now, my Dad has made the decision of letting it go and just leaving it because he is worried about repercussions, and whether the £80 is worth the possibility of having the car smashed or even the house bricked etc.

Just wanted to know what you guys would do in this situation?

Please dont flame :)
 
Well done on passing your test. To be honest if i were you I probably wouldnt of passed up the free lesson!
Seeing as you haven't lost any money on this maybe you should inquire with another school about doing pass plus. By the sounds of it the school really dont want it getting out about their little cheat.
Personally Id just forget about them and go with different people.
 
The thing is, I only did it cause its so cheap so dont realy wanna do it with another company. No way could i go out with them after whats happened, it would be so awkward.
 
Your far more honest than I am ;-)

would have snapped it out of his hands and reaped the £200+ savings from NU or equivilent insurance company.
 
They were just trying to cover their backs, you had a couple of lesssons the best route would be to leave it unless you feel it neccessary to react.

Pass Plus is useless btw.
 
So you're now going to pay full whack, plus the £80 you lost. I'd of taken the the sheet and sent it off. At the end of the day you've passed your test - basically you felt guilty telling the insurance company you'd done the pass plus when you hadn't. Do you think they're really going to care?
 
Lots of driving instructors cut down the Pass Plus to a few hours as it's really basic stuff.

Your instructor probably just felt confident that you were good enough anyway and saved you money and hassle while making a quick buck for himself.

While 2 hours isn't long enough for £80, it can get you some decent savings on insurance.
 
So you're now going to pay full whack, plus the £80 you lost. I'd of taken the the sheet and sent it off. At the end of the day you've passed your test - basically you felt guilty telling the insurance company you'd done the pass plus when you hadn't. Do you think they're really going to care?

No, Im not going to be paying the full whack. Ive given them a cheque for £80, which I thought would cover the whole lot, in a sense it did by covering the cost for the 1 hour 40 minutes he took me out. As far as they're concerned ive done my pass plus and paid them £80.

Its nothing to do with the insurance company. Once I had been given the training report I had to send it off to the pass plus people, then once I got the certificate I would have to send it off to the Governent run scheme, and by doing this committing fraud, which I did not want to do.
 
as none of the replies seem to have properly read/undestood your OP i will try to answer you. i would probably let it go as the £80 would be a bit too much hassle to get back just for that amount. also yes i agree it would have been committing fraud so i think your right not to do it. just forget it man dont do the pass plus and dont claim your money back either. just look at it as a lesson learned i guess :)
 
as none of the replies seem to have properly read/undestood your OP i will try to answer you. i would probably let it go as the £80 would be a bit too much hassle to get back just for that amount. also yes i agree it would have been committing fraud so i think your right not to do it. just forget it man dont do the pass plus and dont claim your money back either. just look at it as a lesson learned i guess :)

Yeh I think your right, thanks for the reply :)
 
as none of the replies seem to have properly read/undestood your OP i will try to answer you. i would probably let it go as the £80 would be a bit too much hassle to get back just for that amount. also yes i agree it would have been committing fraud so i think your right not to do it. just forget it man dont do the pass plus and dont claim your money back either. just look at it as a lesson learned i guess :)

What!? Ask for your £80 quid back nicely and say that you felt you needed the rest of the time learning. Don't be such a woman! You've basically been mugged for £80 and that is not something that you should "put down to experience". Not on at all!

I was about to add "IMO" but then I know I'm right! ;)

PS. You are also mental for not taking the two hour pass plus!
 
What!? Ask for your £80 quid back nicely and say that you felt you needed the rest of the time learning. Don't be such a woman! You've basically been mugged for £80 and that is not something that you should "put down to experience". Not on at all!

I was about to add "IMO" but then I know I'm right! ;)

PS. You are also mental for not taking the two hour pass plus!

dont want to start putting out threats etc as you dont know what these people are like. Sometimes its best to just swallow?
 
As pass plus covers areas such as country driving, bad weather driving, town driving etc. maybe the instructor thought that you had covered these during your regular lessons and therefore only really needed tutoring on motorway driving. Could this be the case? If so, perhaps that is why he marked you down for 2 hours in each discipline - because you'd already done those hours during your original driving lessons.
 
the company phoned back and offered to take you out for the extra hours required. (i mean youve already paid the £80 for it dude) Wheres the problem? Maybe the reason they didnt do this initially is because your instructor thought you didnt need it. Also passplus helps with your insurance so why didnt you snap it up?????


you are supposed to do this training AFTER you pass your test, and so any driving before your test doesn't count. Plus the guy made up dates on the sheet for when these sessions had taken place, when in fact they were date in the future.

if the school thought that it wasnt necessary for him then maybe they were just trying to fast-track the OP

But again the school offered to take him out to do these hours afterwards anyway. What are they guilty of? Trying to cut a few corners maybe?
 
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As pass plus covers areas such as country driving, bad weather driving, town driving etc. maybe the instructor thought that you had covered these during your regular lessons and therefore only really needed tutoring on motorway driving. Could this be the case? If so, perhaps that is why he marked you down for 2 hours in each discipline - because you'd already done those hours during your original driving lessons.

He pretty muich said that in his OP. But as mentioned in the OP again you are supposed to do this training AFTER you pass your test, and so any driving before your test doesn't count. Plus the guy made up dates on the sheet for when these sessions had taken place, when in fact they were date in the future.
 
He pretty muich said that in his OP. But as mentioned in the OP again you are supposed to do this training AFTER you pass your test, and so any driving before your test doesn't count. Plus the guy made up dates on the sheet for when these sessions had taken place, when in fact they were date in the future.
You are supposed to do it after passing your test but I expect there are a large proportion of drivers who didn't. I know that I didn't spend 12 hours doing pass plus. I mean what's the point of driving on a dual carriageway for a lesson say a few days before your test and then having to do exactly the same lesson again a few days after your test?

The bit about the forward dates was possibly out of order however the company offered free lessons to make up the hours and imo that would be fine if the OP was desperate to do the full 12 hours.
 
You are supposed to do it after passing your test but I expect there are a large proportion of drivers who didn't. I know that I didn't spend 12 hours doing pass plus. I mean what's the point of driving on a dual carriageway for a lesson say a few days before your test and then having to do exactly the same lesson again a few days after your test?

The bit about the forward dates was possibly out of order however the company offered free lessons to make up the hours and imo that would be fine if the OP was desperate to do the full 12 hours.

Perhaps the Pass Plus system is viewed as meaningless precisely due to so many people taking shortcuts in achieving it?
 
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