January 29th, 2010 Administrator
Bedford driving school Txt-Drive will be in the Harpur Shopping Centre on Saturday 30th January from 9am – 5.30pm.
We will be advertising the driving school to people in the shopping centre. People will be able to book driving lessons on the day with one of the Txt-Drive driving instructors.
You could even book a driving lesson or two for a friend or relative in the form of a Txt-Drive Gift Voucher. That way the receiver can set a date & time that suits them.
Special offers will be available on the day to those that book driving lessons.
If you are in Bedford town centre, come & speak to us about Txt-Drive driving lessons in Bedford.
To more information or to book driving lessons call : 0800 8600 983 (FREEPHONE).
Posted in BMW Mini, Bedford, Driving, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Tests, Eco-Safe Driving, Pass Plus, Road Safety, Special Offers, Txt-Drive | No Comments »
January 14th, 2010 Administrator
INSTRUCTORS are working round the clock to clear a massive back-log of almost 50,000 cancelled driving tests which were wiped out by the arctic weather conditions.
Thousands of driving tests had to be cancelled across the UK since late last year as treacherous road conditions made it too dangerous and in some cases impossible to carry out.
The Driving Standards Agency has re-scheduled 47,500 practical exams due to snow and ice clogging up the road network and making it too dangerous for learner drivers.
Tests have been running as normally as possible during the big freeze, but the DSA started having a large national problem from December 21.
In Scotland alone a total of 4,766 tests have been cancelled, including car, bike and LGV learner drivers affected.
Closed
Most were for those learning to drive cars, with 4,382 tests cancelled and only 69 scheduled tests going ahead since December 21.
Those that did go ahead were all in 2009 – with no learners yet to get the chance to get their licence in the new decade.
Most cancellations were made on the day of the test, with just 55 pupils getting at least a days notice.
The DSA said this was because they waited to see what the weather conditions were like before cancelling the test.
In parts of Scotland, test centres have been closed since December 17, with tests still not back up and running despite milder conditions.
And the delays have affected instructors as well as the pupils, with driving schools loosing money as a result.
“Health risk”
The test centre with the most cancellations in Scotland was Sheildhall in Glasgow, where 340 tests were called off.
In Edinburgh, the test centres at Currie and Musselburgh have cancelled 403 exams in the last four weeks.
Billy Budgen, owner of the Driving Training Centre in Edinburgh, said that the costs of the adverse weather have hit instructors hard in the worst run of cancellations he has seen.
He said: “I think the last test that went ahead was before Christmas.
“They can’t physically take them out in that weather. There is a health risk to both the public and the examiner in these kind of driving conditions.
“It affects the instructors financially as they don’t get paid for the lesson if it gets cancelled.
“When a test is cancelled it is £40 per pupil that the instructor looses and that doesn’t include the lessons that have had to be cancelled as well.
“I have never seen weather like this in my time as an instructor. We’ve had the odd occasion where there has been a flurry of snow and tests have been cancelled but that would be for one day, not a sustained period of time like just now.”
“Very badly”
And in Glasgow, the West End Driving School has also had all of their tests cancelled since before Christmas.
Colin Adam, who runs the school, said that he wasn’t sure exactly how many of their pupils had been affected, but one of his instructors had been hit quite hard.
He said: “It’s affected a lot of instructors very badly.
“One of the instructors who works for me had nine driving tests booked and they were cancelled.
“Apart from being a shame for the pupils, it is a loss of earnings for the instructor as well, because they will have blocked that time off for the test.”
The DSA said that tests did not go ahead in adverse weather conditions due to the safety of the people involved.
A spokeswoman said: “We wouldn’t take learners out on roads in these conditions because of safety issues.”
From : Deadline website
Txt-Drive driving school in Bedford had two of their pupil’s driving tests in Bedford cancelled due to snow. Txt-Drive driving instructors also had to cancel some of the driving lessons over the last few weeks due to bad weather, including snow & ice. However the first two driving tests in 2010 for Txt-Drive’s pupils did go ahead & both pupils passed. Louisa got 4 minor faults and Adam got just 1 minor fault, this gives Txt-Drive a 100% pass rate record in 2010!!!!
You can book driving lessons in Bedford with a Txt-Drive driving instructor by calling the FREEPHONE number 0800 8600 983 or you can text DRIVE followed by your name & town to 80039.
Posted in Bedford, Driving, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Tests, Road Safety, Txt-Drive | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2010 Administrator
Almost 2,000 learner drivers in NI failed their driving test for at least the fifth time last year.
Environment Minister Edwin Poots told the assembly that 14,744 car drivers failed on their first attempt.
SDLP MLA Thomas Burns, who tabled the question to the minister, urged people who failed several times to persevere.
“Many people find the process tough going, but candidates should not view their difficulties as a sign of them being a personal failure,” he said.
Of people taking their second test, 11,126 were unsuccessful, while 5,839 failed for a third time, 2,608 failed their fourth attempt while 1,981 failed five or more times.
Txt-Drive driving instructors in Bedford have a high first time pass rate. Driving lessons in Bedford start from just £12.00 per hour with a Bedford driving instructor from Txt-Drive.
Posted in Bedford, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Tests, Txt-Drive | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2010 Administrator
DISGRUNTLED driving instructors are threatening to take drastic action in their attempt to stop a test centre from being shut down.
They are planning to take their learners to the busiest parts of Cardiff at rush hour or do a “go-slow” through the city centre to get themselves heard.
Despite admitting their protests could cause mayhem, the instructors believe they need to make test centre bosses sit up and listen.
The row is over the planned closure of the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) test centre in Barry from January.
Driving teachers in the Vale say they would be forced to use the test centre in Cardiff, costing them more in time and fuel. Added costs would have to be passed on to pupils and the instructors fear this could mean a loss of trade at a time when conditions are already difficult.
Barry instructor Lyndon Davies said the drivers were discussing taking their learners to Culverhouse Cross at 4.30pm – when rush hour traffic is fast approaching its busiest.
He said: “We know it would be mayhem down there but we feel we’ve been left with few alternatives.
“Of course the last thing we want is to cause an accident, the safety of our learners is top priority.
“But if we felt we could disrupt the busiest part of Cardiff in a safe way then it is something we will look at.”
A group of instructors were meeting at the Barry Conservative Club tonight at 8pm to discuss the plans.
Vale MP John Smith and Vale AM Jane Hutt have already backed the campaign to keep the centre in Barry.
Jim Stokes, who teaches for the PAL School for Driving in Barry, added: “We are looking at a number of measures.
“We’re hoping as many instructors as possible turn up for the meeting to talk about how we go forward.
“It has got to the point where the DSA just put the phone down when we ring up.”
Barry Council has offered the DSA two possible sites for relocation but they have been rejected.
The DSA has said the Barry centre is unsuitable and inadequate, and centres in Cardiff and Bridgend have the capacity to cope with the extra workload.
A spokesman for the DSA said: “The centre at Barry does not offer the services we would wish to offer our customers and the premises do not have the benefit of off-street parking for our customers.”
Why are the DSA closing ‘local’ driving test centres & opening up fewer larger test centres? Aren’t they trying to get people to drive in an Eco-Safe way – this can’t really happen if they are being forced to travel further!! Travelling further means more traffic on the roads – again at a time when agencies are trying to get us to drive less. Mixed messages being sent out from the Government & DSA.
Posted in Driving, Driving Instructors, Driving Lessons, Driving Tests | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2010 Administrator
Up to 40,000 motorists on our roads are there illegally after paying conmen to take their driving tests for them.
Investigators working for the Driving Standards Agency say every year thousands of dodgy learners get fraudsters to impersonate them because they have no hope of passing a test themselves.
They pay stand-ins, who often use disguises, up to £3,000 a time to take a test for them.
Then they are unleashed on our roads without the necessary skills to cope, putting genuine drivers at risk of injury or even death.
The DSA’s Andy Rice said: “It is enough to make you seriously worried when you drive home at night.
“The law of averages says some of these people will have been involved in serious accidents.
“I work on the assumption that if these people don’t think they have a chance of passing a test their driving must be sub-standard and they could end up killing somebody.”
Police say there is no way of knowing just how many dodgy drivers are out there causing serious accidents because their documents are genuine.
Yesterday two men were jailed at Manchester crown court for taking at least 35 tests for other people.
Ali Abdallah, 29, and Muqtar Nuren, 22, were texted provisional licence details by no-hopers.
Abdallah got three years and his accomplice Nuren got 12 months after admitting plotting fraud.
Nuren was involved in 17 tests and Abdallah took part in 27 tests at centres from Huddersfield to Essex. They passed 10.
BRAZEN
Abdallah had previously impersonated a learner in 2003.
The DSA believes there are impersonators who have each taken tests for hundreds of unskilled drivers.
Since 2004 there have been more than 2,300 reported cases of impersonation including 616 incidents over the last year. But the true figure is feared to be much higher.
Some serial impostors take several tests at the same centre on one day.
The most brazen have taken tests in the morning then changed their clothes and returned in the afternoon posing as new candidates.
If you would like to pass your driving test in Bedford quickly, contact the driving school Txt-Drive, who have a high first time pass rate & offer cheap driving lessons in Bedford. They work out cheaper than the ‘national’ driving schools over the national average of 67 hours required to pass the driving test. Many of Txt-Drive pupils pass first time & have no, or very little, private practice. Most pupils also require less driving lessons than the national average. Pupils that pass their driving test with Txt-Drive do so in a maximum of 3 attempts (this is the national AVERAGE!!). So Txt-Drive pupils are all ‘average or above average’.
To book a driving lesson in Bedford with a Bedford driving instructor call Txt-Drive driving school on 0800 8600 983 (FREEPHONE) or text DRIVE to 80039 (standard text message rate).
Posted in Bedford, Driving, Driving Lessons, Driving Tests, Road Safety, Txt-Drive | No Comments »