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I would like to warn any one talking lessons with the driving instructor Mark Hudson

I was put in contact with Mark Hudson thought bill plant driving school. The deal thought Bill Plant was £160 for 10 lessons. To get this deal you have to pay £160 up front to the driving instructor. I did ask for a receipt but he avoided giving me one every time I asked for one. He said he would give it to me next time.

This was my first time with a driving instructor. I had previously had some lessons with my husband.

From the first few lessons I found out that Mark Hudson is not a good driving instructor. As I told friends and family what I had been doing on the lessons. They said he is stringing the lessons out holding me back.

As I had paid the £160 in full I just wanted to Finnish the lessons and book with someone else. I thought things would get better. It would have been awkward to ask for the money back.

The following are overall reviews of his teaching attitude & Teaching technique:

Punctuality:

Mark Hudson's time keeping is terrible, with no apologies for most of the time he was late. I roughly calculate that his tardiness has wasted a minimum of 50 minutes over the course of the lessons.

He messaged just an hour before the lesson stars to change the lesson from 1PM to 2PM. Then he arrived at 3:50PM that day which is about 1 hour and 50 minutes late! And during that 1 hour and 50 minutes he never called, I called him multiple times and every time he said he will be here soon till 3:30PM when I called him again then this time he tried to cancel the lesson with me, I didn't want that, I spent all the afternoon for nothing but waiting…… Finally he turned up at 3:50PM. Because this I had candled an appointment at 3PM that day with my GP, so on that evening I wanted rearrange a new appointment for the next day with my GP. As the rule of the Bill Plant the cancelation should give 24 hours in advance, but I thought was worth to try. Therefore I called him about 20 hours in advance see if I can cancel the next day's lesson without charge. He was ok with that and he accepted the cancellation without asking for extra payment, but at the end of day (06-08-2012) he asked for more money for that cancelled lesson.

Teaching technique:

Mark Hudson brought me to the petrol station to put fuel in his car at the first day of my driving. Is this not supposed to been prepared before the lesson?

Mark Hudson brought me to the same train level crossing 4 times on multiple lessons, for which we sat there quietly for 10 -15 minutes at a time. Every time he always asked me to turn the engine off as soon as we got there, even his car has automatic engine off function after certain time standstill. This makes me think he's prepared to do this, and he did this on purpose which he just wanted to save the fuel. What kind driving instructor not aware of the train crossing times on a route he must drive every day? This crossing is down 45 minutes in every hour. This is roughly another of my 50 minutes wasted!

Teaching attitude:

Mark Hudson's patience and general manor was abrupt, not patient enough. He was annoyed with me as a new learner when asking me to do something. This isn't what I'm paying him for?

At the last lesson (06-08-2012) he was late again, my husband called him many times with no answer. Then He turned up about 10 minutes later and again with no apologies. This time my husband couldn't stand him anymore and he was going to question him. When confronted about being late he changed the subject said this lesson is chargeable and he was going to give it for free, because we candled a lesson was within 24 hours, but for this cancellation we did get his permission that without charge otherwise we would never done this. When we tried to clarify these facts with him then he just jumped on the car and drove away and he never ever turns back although we called many times but ended with no answer! I totally speechless from his behaviours I felt like I've been robbed!!!

I paid for 10 lessons but only 7 lessons worth with such bad teaching attitude & Teaching technique!!!

Looking at his name and number on Google and from what he told us. He would seem like a nomadic driving instructor moving from place to place.

As more and more people find out about he's attitude and driving instructing style in one area. He then has to move onto another place as no one wants to have lessons with him. Some people should not be driving instructors and Mark Hudson is one of them.

Mark Hudson's Photo & Bussiness webpage:

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(mark-hudson-d />

Monetary Loss: $360.

Location: Bath, England

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Guest

As an instructor, I always like to get my pupil to drive into a petrol station and fill up for a number of reasons. The biggest one has to be how dangerous it can be.

People walk and drive with impunity out and around petrol stations without a care. Secondly, it helps to know what grade of fuel to fill with, how sensitive the pump gun is etc. How to handle the pump and the hazards of handling flammable liquid.

As a last point, if you are only prepared to pay just 16 pounds per lesson for driving tuition, do not expect a good quality lesson.

In life we generally pay for what we get and if I was on a meagre lesson price such as that, I doubt I would have much enthusiasm to teach. it costs on average 2-3 pounds of petrol per lesson, add in a franchise payment per lesson which can vary between 4 - 6 pounds per lesson on average and that then leaves the instructor with the grand total of between 10 pounds per hour or at worst around 7 pounds per hour ( less than the minimum wage) Think about it!

Guest

Theres another one in march his names collin brown i think brown is his surname but collin is his first for sure l. He ripped me off and legged it with my money. He wont even answer my call and only msgs random nonsense msgs wen ever he like this is his number

07733 36****

Guest

I've had Mark Hudson as well, but overall I was ralatively happy with the lessons. Although some of what turth1508 said is true (sometimes sloppy timekeeping, cancellations and fuel refills during lessons) I didn't find it all that bad.

I got along with him and managed to pass first time. I do have to say though that although I was satisfied with my lessons, if I hadn't have passed my test I wouldn't have gone back.

John D Tzy

My daughter has also found herself out of pocket recently due to a Bill Plant franchise in Derby.

At her test and their car was found to be unroadworthy and so the centre would not conduct the test. (no spares bulbs carried due to the Bill Plants own policy).

Subsequently the instructor thought it ok to then get my daughter to drive the car home without repair. Bill Plant refused to pay any compensation for her lost test money.

On contacting the Bill Plant organisation I was appauled to find out that despite our previously spending over £1000 with them for her lessons, they demonstrated a total lack of ownership of the situation and accepted no liability for our incurred losses . Driving instructor Susan Keeton verbally offered to pay for retest fee of £62, but was never forthcoming with the payment despite several reminders.

I feel they're a disgrace to the profession!

My advice is, don't use a franchise, especially one associated with Bill Plant.

Guest

Omg he done the same to me I'm so totally pissed off I've lost my money

I was looking for an instructor to take me to my test and all he has done is drive to point less areas not on the test patch and let me down for weeks I'm giving up now and getting a new instructor

:(

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