Watch Out For Bogus Driving Instructors!

Posted on October 31st, 2009 by admin, under Driving Instructor.

There are certain driving instructors who can make money off driving instruction without investing in all the training and passing all the qualifying exams. Just like Mr. Ferris, of Newport, Gwent, who has been recently fined a £305 for giving illegal driving tuition to three learner drivers.

David Ferris, 50, was deceitful to three pupils that he was an Approved Driving Instructor as he charged them £17 per lesson. Ferris’ qualifications were doubted by Newport Driving Centre staff in November last year. As DSA’s Fraud and Integrity Team collected evidence, the bogus ADI received a warning to stop his illegal activity. Ferris said in response that he was helping his friends with driving training for free. Some time later, DSA received a complaint from one of Ferris’ “friends” and cracked down. The fraudster was arrested at his home on June 26, 2009. Mr. Ferris pleaded guilty for the offences and was fined a combined £305.

It goes without saying that taking lessons from illegal driving instructor may be dangerous and a waste of money. They never passed their qualifying exams and, thus, are unable to provide an adequate training to their pupils. In addition, bogus driving instructors are stealing customers from those who really deserve them.

Protecting yourself from the fraud is very easy. Be aware that any qualified driving instructor should display his coloured badge in the windscreen. Pink badge shows they are still under training and are entitled to provide driving tuition. Green badge indicates you are being trained by fully qualified person who is on the Register of Approved Driving Instructors. Make sure the person on the badge photo quite looks like your driving instructor!

Being an illegal driving instructor can bring about more severe penalties than just paying a £305 fine. One fraudster named Donald Johnson – who could have made a brilliant driving instructor – was sentenced to two years in jail for doing the same thing as David Ferris, but at greater scale and with more talent. In 2006, Mr. Johnson illegally taught 19 pupils, and 15 passed their tests first time! It is almost 80 percent with national average pass rate for pupils who take driving test first time being at only 46 percent.

If you have any suspicions toward your driving instructor, ask him to show you his badge or call DSA.