Dodgy Driving Instructor
When I first started lessons with my driving instructor, he told me I could call him Uncle. Maybe it was meant to feel familiar, like a community figure. But the more I got to know Uncle, the more uneasy I felt.
First of all, Uncle is almost always barefoot during lessons. No socks, no shoes. It’s weird and makes me slightly uncomfortable, I can’t lie. I’m not sure if it’s some personal habit or religious practice, but it throws me off during lessons — I’m trying to focus on lane positioning and clutch control, and in my peripheral vision, I see his bare foot flexing on the dashboard, almost touching my elbow.
He sometimes yells at me when I make a mistake — not full-on shouting, but loud enough to rattle me. It kind of hurts my feelings. And on the flip side, when I am driving well, he always goes on TikTok in the passenger seat. I can even hear the music — I remember one time he was watching a phonk edit as I recognised the song.
He also starts most lessons by having me swap in for another student, then drive that student home to drop him off. So, the first 15 minutes or so of my lesson isn't even mine, we aren't practising test routes during that time. Just overall very unprofessional. And we’re paying him £37 per 1 hour lesson. Our family always pays for 10 lessons upfront — £370 — because we trust him. He used to teach my father, so there’s some history. This is important detail later.
My mother paid for a cancellation service that helps find earlier test dates. One day, I got a text: “We’ve found a test for Thursday the 18th.” I called Uncle to ask if that fit his schedule. He said he’d think about it, then called me back two minutes later to confirm it did.
So I accepted the test by messaging back, “I accept.”
But then, I noticed a follow-up message. It said Thursday the 17th, not the 18th — the service had clearly made a mistake. I immediately rang Uncle back to clarify. Here is a transcript of how the conversation went:
Me: “Wait it’s the 17th of Thursday, not the 18th. The cancellation service I used made a mistake when telling me the date of the test. Does 17 still work?”
Uncle: “AHHHHH Rain why do you do this to MEEEEEEEEE?!?” (a bit frustrated)
Me: “…”
Uncle: “Because I had moved another student’s test to 17th so I don’t know AHHHHHHHHH”
Me: “…”
Uncle: “I’ll have to let you know because I already have a student on that day doing a test so I don’t know”
Me: “Ah okay, sorry about that. Thanks”
After an hour of no response, I decided to call him again, and eventually Uncle confirmed we could do the 17th. By this point, I had only used 3 of the 10 lessons. In the next few days, I completed two more lessons — bringing the total to 5. That’s £185 worth of lessons used (5 x £37). On the day of the test, £100 is usually paid to my instructor for around 40 minutes worth of practice and for using his car. So:
£370 - £185 - £100 = £85
That’s £85 left he has to owe us.
Now here’s where it gets dodgy.
Uncle randomly told me that another student recently booked a last-minute test and “paid double”. It felt like he was trying to plant the idea in my head that I should pay double, too. Which means he doesn’t have to owe us that £85, in fact, I’d even have to owe him money (£15).
Anyways, on the day of the test, I thankfully passed and, on the drive back, he mentioned how the test date was originally meant for another student, but that he had made them cancel because I had been trying hard and deserved it more. Maybe that’s true. Or maybe that student didn’t pay double, and I looked like an easier, more gullible target.
I’ve learned that trust isn’t something you hand over blindly, even to people your family believes in. Even “trustworthy” people with good reputations can play sneaky games when money is involved. He could be telling the truth, though, and maybe I did make him lose out on £100 from another student… so should I pay double?
Who knows... Let me know your thoughts in the comments.