A sad day

It was a sad day for me yesterday, I pay a lot of attention to relationships with my customers, and here is an example of it going wrong.

Yesterday I asked one of my Learners to make a decision.  I wont mention any specific details so that this person is not identifiable but I think what has happened is an insight to how things can go wrong. 

She failed her test a few weeks ago.  In my 3 years of running she is the ONLY Learner that decided that I do NOT accompany her on the test, which is her right of course.  The disadvantage with that decision, is that I don’t then see, first hand, what happened on the test.  But although I positively encourage my Learners to agree for me to observe the test in the back, it is of course, their decision, and I respect their right.  So although I cannot say I physically witnessed the test, from listening to the examiner on the de-brief at the end, I think I would respectfully suggest that it was not a ‘near miss’ so to speak.  There were 2 significant incidents that occurred that the examiner mentioned, and either on its own, would fail a test, in addition, there were a whole raft of minor driving faults – far more than the 5 or less that my Learners tend to achieve. 

So the first thing that raises in my mind is how well was this Learner prepared for the test.  Prepared in the sense of knowing the standard required, and prepared in terms of knowing how her ability matched that standard.    I have blogged/posted pretty comprehensively on this subject, and all my in-car training constantly refers to this very important subject.  If you are not a regular reader of my blogs, then please feel free to browse them, and you will see exactly what my approach to getting 'test ready' is.

What happened next, there appears to be a difference of opinion.  According to the Mother of this Learner, I apparently then said after test, “Oh well, there is nothing more I can do for you, just book up another test”.  Quite why a professional Driving Instructor would be recommending a Learner follows up a test fail, with another test, with no further training is a mystery to me.  My recollection of the chat afterwards was that I had stressed the importance of not only thoroughly dealing with the 2 significant driving faults exposed, but also not dropping any other balls, so that the overall number of errors was reduced too.

It is my opinion that on test day, a Learners driving ability will reduce due to test day nerves.  However, that is not a reason/excuse in itself for failing tests.  What I like to strive to do, is get my Learners overall driving standard so high, that when test day comes along and that % reduction occurs due to nerves, there is still plenty there to comfortably pass the test.  It’s an approach that works for me.  It works for my Learners in general, because they generally pass first time.  But if you think about it, what it does require, is for the Learner to ‘buy’ into that approach.  If a Learner just wants to go to test asap, chancing their arm so to speak, then you can see, that flies in the face of my approach.  Ultimately, I get no personal satisfaction seeing my Learners go to test, again and again and again and again, failing, and would question what effect that would have on building a successful business.  

So when a Learner speaks to me at the start of a driving course, I do show them my recommended syllabus, and that syllabus is designed to achieve that high standard of driving that will be needed on test day.  I should point out that it is of course their choice.  This Learner I am talking about here for example, never once used the syllabus, never recorded progress, and consciously decided to omit what I personally consider to be pretty important subjects that improve the driving standard eg commentary driving.   I offer options, it is for my Learners to take the responsibility as to the extent they learn.

So there is a 2^nd attempt looming in 2 weeks, and not 1 minute of training has occurred.  The decision that I asked her to make yesterday was:

1.        Postpone the test so that the time/money can be accrued to train

2.       Find another Instructor who will not mind taking her to test for what will inevitably be another fail.

For your information, I charge £46 for a Learner to use my car for the test and have 1 hour before the test.  So what I was saying was, that on principle, I would rather not receive the £46 than see my Learner fail another test. 

The Learners Mother then stepped in yesterday saying she was going to make a formal complaint to the DSA.  I referred her to their website to assist her in doing that.

So there we go.  I am passionate about my job.  I don’t take things for ‘chance’.  I want my customers to succeed, and be happy.  Clearly with this Learner I have failed in that regard.   I don’t like making people upset, in fact, yesterday I immediately apologized when I discovered that, but likewise, I am a professional, trying my utmost to provide a quality service, and build a reputation of actually caring about the standard of driving achieved from my Learners. 

For sure, I could have taken the £46 for test day again, had another failure, quite how many times that would have happened is anyones guess, but yes, it would have been very easy money for me, but I choose NOT to do that – it goes against everything that I do.  I know there are other instructors out there, who don’t share my philosophy on this, and that was why I gave my Learner enough time to take option 2 (above). 

Rather than considering which of the 2 options would be most appropriate for my Learner, instead, the Mother chooses to make a formal complaint to the DSA.  I've said it before on this blog, there is a direct relationship between the attitude to learning shown from a Learner and their carers/Parents.