Kate from Birkenhead passed today.

She was very nervous and has been throughout the process of learning to drive. So today has been something of a triumph. She was lucky in that she got an examiner that put her at her ease, and she did pick up 10 faults, but well done to her. She's kept on trying, despite being rigid with panic at times, so today is a real achievement both for her and for me.

5 out of 6 now... that's an 83% first time pass-rate.

For the first time, I took a picture. I thought she'd look happier!

3 weeks, 3 passes...

It's been a couple of weeks since I added anything to this blog. Busy little bee I've been!

In that time three of my pupils have had their driving tests.

First of these was Tom from Wallasey. He came to me after failing his test with another instructor. He thought he had a problem with hills, but really he just lacked a bit of structure. His comments 2 days before his test were "I don't know if I will pass, but I feel like I'm a much better driver now".

3 weeks was all it took. He passed with just 3 minor faults.

Next up was Lucy from Birkenhead. She started with me several months ago, and really worked hard at learning. She's turned into a brilliant driver, and she duly passed her test with only 4 minors.

This morning at the unearthly time of 8.20, when decent folks are still eating cornflakes or snuggled in a duvet, Rosie, from Willaston, was out doing her driving test in Ellesmere Port.

Passed first time? Well duh! Do you think I'd be posting her name on the internet if she'd failed?

5 minors this time, which she was more than happy with. 8.20 tests in Ellesmere port do my head in! I had to be up at 6 this morning. I think I deserve a medal, don't you?

I wish them all well as drivers!

Tomorrow I have another test. A young lady from Birkenhead. Watch this space!

The wild blue yonder...

So, you've had a load of lessons, and passed your driving test...

Suddenly you're in the car on your own, and although you can drive and check your mirrors and steer properly and not crash into people at roundabouts and all of that, suddenly you've got to get to Bishop's Stortford, or Aberystwyth or Bradford or Nottingham, and there's nobody sat next to you saying "Take the next road on the left" or "At the roundabout, turn right, taking the third exit". You have to take enough attention from the road to be able to read the roadsigns, and you have to plan your journey before you start.

So I've been doing this lately with some of my pupils. I'm not on about someone who's still learning the basics, but if you're getting towards test standard, you can learn a lot from being expected to get from a-to-b, in an area you've never driven before, with minimal input from me.

This usually involves travelling through the Mersey Tunnels, which all of my pupils find both exciting and scary. I'm not saying where we go to on these trips, because that would spoil the surprise.

What else? Well One of my pupils had her test on Thursday. She touched the kerb while reversing around a corner unfortunately, and because she was a bit nervous, she couldn't work out how to correct it. Not a bad fail though. No other serious faults, and she'll be on familiar ground, and less nervous next time.

So what do you do if you make a mistake on your left reverse?

Well first of all, before you do anything, have a good look around and make sure it's clear. Then you can adjust things by going forward. If the back wheel has touched the kerb, then you need to steer towards the kerb while driving forward. This changes the angle of the car so that when you reverse again, you should be in a better position. But it's probably better to be a little bit wide than too close. The left reverse is not a parking exercise. You don't have to be very close to the kerb, although if you're reversing into a narrow street, you would need to be close enough not to cause a problem to people driving into the street.

That's about all for this post I reckon.

R.I.P. Skitty.

My cat is dead.

He got hit by a car yesterday and died at the vets. I'd love to write a big long entry describing just what a lovely well natured and beautiful cat he was, but right now I'm too upset. I've had him for a long time and his not being here has left a hole in my life.


Byebye mate. You were lovely, and I really really miss you.

Zzzz... Another day, another first time pass!

Nice one Stefan!

This guy passed because he's now a really good driver. Like everyone I teach.

Passed with just 4 minor faults. Both reversing exercises were perfect.

What else can I say? Still waiting for the new Zetec S, but the people I'm getting the car from, GoInstruct seem like a good company to work for. The temporary car they sent came with a full tank of petrol, which put me in a positive frame of mind straight away!

Doing the business!

One thing I ain't is a natural born businessman.

I'm sloppy, disorganised, poorly motivated, and not particularly materialistic.

So the admin side of this job gets avoided until it has to be dealt with.

And crunch time has been the last couple of days.

I've had to try to find all the reciepts I could get hold of from April 2006 until April 2007.

I've had to work out on a week by week basis exactly how much I've earned.

Then I've had to write all this stuff down in a book and make all the numbers add up.

It's taken a number of days, and culminated in me staying up until nearly 5am this morning getting it sorted out. I still have a few bits to do, and I do need to double check the figures while I'm not half asleep. And I need to tidy up, because the living room is a mass of strewn paper.

I made a profit of just under £7000 last year. That's a little bit less than £140 a week. And that's without any kind ofcreative accounting. In fact, because I'm so slipshod, there are quite a few weeks where the car must have ran on fresh air, as there are no petrol reciepts.

Still, there you go. Spend 000's getting a professional qualification. Then work in a business where the overheads are so high, you make bugger all from it.

And that's why I've chosen to stop working as a franchisee for other people and start my own school up.

My current costs are basically franchise and fuel. This comes to a rough figure of £260/week.

My new costs will be car lease, insurance, fuel and advertising. The first three should come to about £150/week. I'll be charging less per hour than I do now, but even so, unless I spend
£90/week on advertising every single week, I'm going to be much better off.

So there you go! Probably boring as hell, but don't believe the adverts. The instructor training colleges charge a lot of money on what I reckon is something of a false promise.

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