Carl Slater - Automatic Driving Instructor

Congratulations on passing your test Sophie. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for the review and congratulations on passing your driving test on your 1st attempt.
I’ll miss our conversation about films and theatre.

Another day, another pass. I don’t usually work on my birthday but today I made an exception. Congratulations Rhiannon. A well deserved pass. 😉

Thank you for the kind review Nurit.
I’m glad I was able to help you gain your UK driving license. I will miss our chats and your gardening advice 😁

Something to consider when booking your driving lessons….
Do you, or any of your immediate family have any allergies?
This might seem like an odd question to ask and what relevance does it have to your driving lessons?
If you had an allergic response to animal hair for example, would you be ok entering a room that has a dog? Probably not. So you would most likely not do well in the closed environment of a car interior if the seats were covered in animal hair.
But what if you don’t react to animal hair? Is that still a problem? For you maybe not, but for the next client in my car it could be the difference between life or death perhaps.
The same could be said for people with nut allergies. Or seafood allergies. You can’t go on an aeroplane and enjoy your seafood salad if even one person on that flight has an allergic response to seafood. Why? Because it’s a closed environment. Same as a car.
We can’t avoid everything but we can be considerate about the other people who drive my car.
Please make sure you present yourself for lessons in clean clothes. Not having just left the garage/workshop and covered in oil. Not having just left the stables with horse manure all over your shoes. Not having just walked the dogs/cats/llamas or whatever you have and be still covered in fur.
If you have just had a strong curry, garlic or some other tasty food before your lessons, freshen up before coming out.
It only takes a few seconds to freshen up yourself but it will take hours for any lingering “fragrances” to clear from the car.
Now, I don’t wish to seem too over protective of my car, but it’s my workspace and everyone I teach has to use it so I have to keep it as clean and fresh as possible…for everyone.
One final point to make….strong deodorant or perfumes are great in open spaces but in the confined interior of a car they can be choking especially if the person sat next to you has an allergic reaction to certain ingredients in perfumes. That would be me. 🤧
Thanks for reading and for your kind consideration. 👍

A busy week and another happy customer. Excellent pass with only 1 fault. Well done Sophie and drive safe.

Driving tests and use of cars.

🚘 With regards the use of driving instructors cars for a test. Whether you have been taking lessons with an instructor or not, if you are not considered safe by the instructor prior to taking a test, the instructor has not only the right, but is also required by the DVSA and the insurance companies to withdraw the use of the car for the test. As driver training professionals, we are expected to present candidates who are driving to a good safe standard, which compromises neither the safety of the examiner or members of the public. Passing your test, is not a case of just turning up and hoping you will get lucky, that’s just dangerous, it would also be irresponsible of us to condone this sort of behaviour! It may be YOUR test but it’s OUR car, OUR livelihood and OUR reputation! Leave the decision to the experts of when you will be ready..🚗💨

So you’ve had over 40hrs (or more in some cases) of driving lessons and you think you’re ready to take your driving test. Are you really ready? REALLY ?
Or are you just taking it because you want to “give it a go” ?

Your theory is about to expire and you don’t want to go through that again? Hopefully you’ll “wing it” and just pass the practical.

Your mates all passed their test and did it in under 40hrs so you should be able to as well?

If you can drive completely independently then you are ready.
If you still have to ask questions to confirm your thoughts then you’re not ready.
If you have to ask for help dealing with certain situations that you’ve “never done before” then you’re not ready.
If you still need me to tell you which lane to be in you’re not ready.
If you still can’t judge what a safe gap is then you’re not ready.
If you can’t anticipate what other road users are going to do and have a plan to deal with that then you’re not ready.

If your instructor tells you you’re not ready there is a good reason.
It’s not because he wants to “ milk you for more money”.
It’s not because he wants to fill the empty spaces in the diary.

It’s dead simple….its because you’re not ready.

I spent almost 3 years training to be an instructor so that I could teach people to drive to the required standards to pass one of the toughest driving test in the world. So when I say you’re not ready I promise you, you’re not ready.
I want nothing more than for my pupils to pass first time so they can get on with their lives with the new freedom and I can get on with teaching someone new.
There is a national backlog of driving tests. People desperately trying to get tests. People that are ready and will pass first time. People that have to wait for a date because someone else wanted to “give it a go”.
You might be lucky and you might “wing it”. You might also win the lottery.
A wrong decision on the lottery will not kill you.
A wrong decision on the road might kill you. Or someone else. Or someone you know. Or someone you love.
Do you want to take that chance?
When you’re ready, you’ll pass.
Until then, keep practicing.

Thanks for the review Katie. Every lesson it was a joy to see your confidence grow. Well done.

Congratulations Becky on an excellent pass.
You were an absolute pleasure to teach and I know you will continue to drive safely and grow in confidence. I too looked forward to our lessons and shall miss them.

Well done Sophie.
An excellent result and you kept your nerves and didn’t overthink things.
Keep it simple every time.

Thank you for the review Rebekkah.
It was a pleasure to teach you and I hope you will continue to enjoy driving now and continue to grow in confidence. 👍👍

For those drivers who think a little over the speed limit is ok and won’t make any difference to how you stop in the event of an emergency…….watch this.

DriveTech - Speed Sense - Why your speed matters A 5 minute film on Motorway impact speeds, Urban Road impact speeds involving pedestrians/cyclists, How your speed can make a difference and Speeding - the f...

Congratulations Nicole Pill.
Passed with just 1 driver fault.
You were a pleasure to teach. Drive safely 👍

Another happy customer. Well done Ollie.

HOW TO DEAL WITH EMERGENCY SERVICES

The following is a quote directly from a paramedic and ambulance driver.

Hi all. I work in the ambulance service. We are trained to hold back, turn off sirens and wait for the green light. Once we have the green light, we will then turn on sirens. If a lane is free when we are approaching, we will use it as it's the lane of least resistance. If you're waiting at a red light, wait there and if it's safe for us to do so, we will find a route around you. DO NOT go through red lights because, as stated, you are liable to prosecution. Sometimes I personally wil turn everything off until a green light is shown. Another confusion people have is approaching solid white lines. If you have a solid white line, and you see an emergency vehicle with lights flashing, do not stop. Legally, we cannot pass you unless you are doing less than 10 miles and hour or have completely stopped. Safest thing to do and advice is to continue as normal until you get to broken white lines. Find a safe place to stop and we will go around you. (I'm sorry if that's teaching you to suck eggs) but I have seen multiple people stop in dangerous places which then hinders our progress. Stay safe out there.

More kind reviews.
Well done to both Jonathan Rudd and Bethany Jolliffe on passing their driving tests.
Drive safely guys 😁😉

Thanks for the review Mandy.
You were such a pleasure to teach and I hope all your plans for the future work out for you.
Achieving your license is the first big step 👍👍

Another happy customer. 😁

The latest review on trust pilot.
Thanks Ashleigh 😁

Another happy client. 😁

These arm signals might look “old school” but they are still as relevant today as they were back in “the day”.
There are still thousands of vintage and classic car users who’s vehicles do not have indicators or brake lights. They use arm signals. Cyclists still use arm signals ( most of the time ). Horse riders too.
What if your own indicators fail ?
You should still know them just in case. There are also questions on the theory test about them. 😉

How old do you think your children are when they start learning to drive.
Most of you will say 17.

WRONG....It’s from the age of about 3 or 4. Yes that’s correct. They are your passengers. They often watch what you do, say and act. So they are forming attitudes about road safety from a very early age. Where are these attitudes coming from?

When they are 17 you entrust them with us to help them pass their test. BUT, it’s not just about passing their test. It’s about developing safe and careful drivers. Between the ages of 17 & 25 they are most vulnerable due to the brain not having matured fully, especially the part that deals with danger and risk. This age group make up a small percentage of the nations drivers but are involved in over 20% of the nations fatal RTC’s.

The biggest killer of teenage girls in this country is probably their boyfriends driving.
The majority of this is down to attitudes that are formed over many years from that young age.
Yet a lot of parents are more concerned with the cost of lessons and how many their child will need. Many are not interested in the safety aspect of learning to drive. Just the cost. What price a life or lives, A FUNERAL COSTS FAR MORE THEN DRIVING LESSONS😔

On average it cost around £1200 to learn to drive. For some it’s more and for some it’s less.
So for that price you would like us to create safe and considerate drivers. And many of us do.

So let’s say we are talking about 40 hours on average. In that time apart from actually learning to drive correctly and safely, we also possibly have to try and change an attitude to risk that has built up over at least 10 years.
This attitude generally comes from you.
So the next time you drive too close to the vehicle in front, just ask your self, in the years to come do YOU want YOUR CHILD TO.......

Do a dodgy overtake
Exceed the speed limit
Be an amber gambler
Run a red light
Start moaning and swearing about the driver in front.
Get involved in road rage incidents
Cause another driver to be badly injured or KILLED

JUST THINK FOR A MOMENT.

This behaviour and attitude is rubbing of on your child. And they will see it as normal behaviour.

So please help us to help your children become safe, competent and considerate drivers,
REMEMBER YOU ARE THIER FIRST DRIVING INSTRUCTOR, how you act and treat other people on the road is noted.

Another happy, independent driver.

A great review from Lee Hurst.
Thanks.