Changes to franchise conditions

We are very fortunate to be blessed with understanding and conscientious customers.  The Covid safe practices that we have adopted since "Super Saturday", have been entirely accepted by all and for that we are grateful. 

BIG TOM Admin fulfils all the risk assessment and notice of protocols work.  This is an essential activity because all the activities for breaking the 6 links of the 'chain of infection', hang on the open and honest communication with customers.  It does inevitably involve added work and work that has to be done diligently, but, early signs show that this is bearing fruit.  So franchisees do not get involved in any of that 'front end' work.  What impact do these new practices have on franchisees?  Well, it is all detailed in the BIG TOM Covid-19 Driving Training Strategy.  The summary of which includes the following:

Cleaning of car controls on arrival at pupils address

Applying face masks before getting in the car

Storing any pupil's items in a 'single use' plastic bag in the boot

Taking of forehead temperatures using a contactless device

Rear windows remaining open

Hourly pauses for ventilation and disinfection

Briefing/de-briefing and important verbal explanations outside the car

Clothing covering skin

No writing, exchanging of items in-car

Availability of tissues, anti-bac wipes, sanitiser

Cleaning of car controls at the end of a session

There are clear reasons for each and every one of these protocols and they are non-negotiable.

There is one major change of note to the Terms & Conditions between franchisee and customer, and it involves the possibility of cancellations.  We have taken the decision from the very start, NOT to penalise any customer should in-car training need to be cancelled due to a change in circumstances that potentially increases risk.  And this is reciprocated should a franchisee's circumstances change.  All these actions relating to minimising risks only hold up if everyone engages entirely; the fact that Jofra Archer (England cricketer) now appreciates I rather suspect.  Although there are no refunds, it is the responsibility of the franchisee to effectively manage the situation with their customer and arrange alternative timings and feedback to BIG TOM Admin the changes. 

Here at BIG TOM, we appreciate that in certain circumstances, this could be inconvenient, tedious and possibly inefficient for normal working. Still, frankly, the alternative is not something we wish to consider that could have wide-ranging health implications for many people involved in our work.  We are not prepared to compromise on safety. 

Being part of a premium service

One of the key advantages with the BIG TOM franchise is that it's built with systems that are long-established and very stable.  If you just take the example of helping out a pupil who has lost their way with their driving training.  They may come to us feeling pretty demoralised, lacking in confidence, and they have had a rough time, for whatever reason(s), with their previous driving school.  What they need at that moment in time is dependable, effective service.  

Take a look at this document, for example, that everyone can access on the internet.  "How to record your pupil's driving lessons and a summary of the skills they need."  It is the use of these kinds of resources that set us apart from other providers.  I have lost count of the number of times pupils say to me that their previous instructors didn't use it.  And yet, look what it offers.  It takes the emotion out of the situation.  The five phases of pupil progress, some lovely resources, the skills needed, how long it takes people to learn to drive etc.  And yet, many instructors are not even engaging in these kinds of resources.

It is precisely these kinds of errors that cause problems for driving instructors up and down the country in retaining pupils and being able to charge a decent fee for a decent service.  There are very good reasons why BIG TOM customers pay the prices that they do, and it is because they recognise they are receiving quality service.

If you would like to be part of this service, let us know 0749 836 4211

Should your pupil do blindspot checks on the move?

The extent to which a driver looks to the side of the vehicle changes for given situations.  Sometimes a glance at the side mirror, perhaps a sideways movement of the head, other times a full-blown blindspot check.  It tends to create a bit of debate amongst driving instructors because there is a degree of ambiguity but let me quote two paragraphs for you from DVSA publications.  The first is from "Learning to Drive" where the intended audience is supervisory drivers (friends/family doing private practice):

When turning right in busy traffic, there will be occasions when a blind-area check to the right needs to be made in case a vehicle is attempting to overtake.  There may be so much else going on that this check is missed and you may need to look for them.

The second is from DES where the intended audience is the driver:

On occasion it will be necessary to check blind spots while you're on the move.  These blind spots will be to either side and shouldn't require you to look round, but rather to give a quick sideways glance.  Looking right round to check blind spots on the move is unnecessary and dangerous, especially when driving at high speeds; in the time it takes, you'll lose touch with what's happening in front.  Regular and sensible use of the mirrors will keep you up to date with what's happening behind.  You will, however, still need to know when a glance into the blind spots is needed.

We can't do motorway services

We can't do motorway services

Take a pit stop and see our country at its worst

Why should a pandemic change that fact?

The rattling of plastic debris in the car park

Stuffed bins that aren't emptied

Entrance doors to manually push or pull

The stench of the toilets

Maximised prices for minimal service

Uncleared, uncleaned and wobbly tables

Birds scavenging on the ground outside

From parking to queuing, eating to leaving,

The experience will be dreadful

On that, you can depend.

Is it any wonder?

If we can't do motorway services

Pandemic or not

We aren't going to save lives either

Are we?

Time to get real

Not all driving instructors felt comfortable going back to work on "super Saturday" (3 days ago), but many did, and shock horror, life goes on.  It sits very uncomfortably for me (and you would think the government although I doubt it somehow), that despite driving instructors being given the green light schools still haven't.  I follow edutwitter and can't help but see how out of touch they are with the rest of the working world.  I've not been a keen supporter of the output from the education system for many years now - based on the experience of my two sons.  But for the government to have me giving driving lessons to people while my 15-year-old son goes to school for two days a week, followed by three the next (and repeat), is nothing short of insane.  I hesitate to say it as so many of my family are involved in schools, but teachers are so far removed from reality; it is frightening.  I appreciate that it must be getting rather comfortable being paid 100% of your salary for sitting at home and making the occasional appearance either at school or on Zoom but come on, these teachers are harming the long-term health of children. 

 

I see comments from teachers on Twitter stating that the proposal of only focussing on english and maths is going to be such a miserable existence. They are completely oblivious to how thoroughly dire it has been for years before lockdown.  One of my younger sisters who is linked with primary schools did a family quiz in lockdown and from what I gather the point was to demonstrate to us samples of the content that our five and six-year-olds are taught these days.  It wasn't very sensible and for sure, set them up perfectly for many more years of garbage education.  Teachers have lost their sense of purpose which brings me on nicely to the subject of this blog.

Driving instructors exist to help create safe drivers.  I don't think there is anything too controversial in that statement.  The next sentence is slightly more tricky.  The question is, how do they achieve that goal?  While it would be natural to mention the DVSA driving standards, the GDE Matrix, the competency of the driving instructors, I want to emphasise something else.  Help create safe drivers for sure but do it in a way that recognises who the customer is because it is this point that I believe has been entirely lost within the UK education system.   Learning is meant to be enjoyable.  If you left a baby to their own devices and just let them develop, they would; it is in us all to learn.  No one has to teach us how to speak, walk or eat, soothe an ache, sing or kick a ball.  We naturally want to develop ourselves.  Why our education system is so intent on extinguishing that natural desire is beyond me, but they have been working hard at it for many years now.  Universities are now about to learn just how awful they have been at providing a customer experience.  The Chinese customers they have become so reliant on are voting with their feet.  UK students don't much like the thought of paying near on £10,000 for poor, remote learning.  The British public is dismayed at the behaviour of youngsters who attend our universities and their obvious disregard for the history of their homeland. There are now loud calls for the fees to be paid in full by the individual - with no public funding support.   What a mess.

Why is this all happening?  Fundamentally, our young people are not engaged in meaningful learning that inspires, creates passion and develops a sense of self-worth.  To put it in rather a common terminology, if you treat people like mindless idiots, eventually they will start behaving like mindless idiots.  And as the owner of a driving school, if you have any desire in seeing out this depression, it might be beneficial to keep this in mind.  Business owners who treat their customers with utter contempt and disrespect will not survive.  

Post-lockdown tech threat

Car manufacturers show a great deal of restraint when it comes to in-car entertainment.  They are desperate to protect the driver from having too many distractions.  Streaming from multiple devices direct to the dashboard could be a killer.  Some of the sat nav and live train/plane/weather data is distracting enough.  But imagine for a moment how distracting it would be if you could stream visuals on to the dash screens.  YouTube videos, Houseparty, Zoom meetings, Facebook videos and all the others would create mayhem for safe driving.  Cute doggy live stories on Snapchat or Mrs Hinch on Insta - these distractions that only need last for a second or two, could be fatal.  As we come out of lockdown and the vast working population have now experienced the advantages of Zoom, it makes you realise how necessary it is to shield drivers.  Millions of us have now become much more tech-savvy than we perhaps were pre-lockdown.

Isolation, shielding and safe distancing are terms that we have come to readily accept in day to day conversations.  Perhaps now is the time for us driving instructors to tap into this terminology and use it for creating safe driving environments.  I've mentioned it before on this blog; it may not have escaped your notice that drivers of vehicles now give cyclists a lot more space when they overtake.  Now might be the time to take full advantage of these changing behaviours brought on by the added focus to 'safety' that the Coronavirus has created.

I've heard Jim Davidson (comedian) mention several times on his YouTube channel his advice of assuming everyone you meet has the virus and also that you have the virus - just have that as the starting point in your mind.  Then, he adds, go about your daily business doing everything you can to not spread it to others, and not catch it yourself.  I quite like that approach because it instantly affects behaviours by creating a clear mindset.  

Our pupils should be encouraged to think the same about drivers, including them.  Imagine that no-one should distract the driver and the driver should do everything not to get distracted.  An anti-social media protective shield around the driver if you like.  You know how many have talked about a plastic barrier between pupil and driving instructor to prevent infection, well, consider it like that to prevent exposure to in-car entertainment.  If passengers know that they are going to use devices on a given journey, why not ask them to sit in the back?  Think of it like social distancing perhaps? 

As the volume of vehicles on our roads continues to increase post-lockdown, we can now start to engage our pupils in conversations about risk assessment that will now be more meaningful.  People will now have a better appreciation of risk, probability, chance, exposure, threat and potential hazards because of the last few months dealing with a pandemic.  As instructors, we would do well to raise awareness in our pupils of the potential threat to the road safety of technology in vehicles.  We can mention social distancing in the car, a protective barrier around the driver, a sterile area around the cockpit.  This comes under the following section in our Standard: Role 1: Prepare yourself, the vehicle, and its passengers for a journey.  In particular, it can be found in - "Element 1.1.3: Control the risks linked with carrying passengers, loads and animals".  For those who like memory joggers, we could do with an acronym just like we have "FLOWER" for the safety checks that we encourage our pupils to do.  Any volunteers?