Terms & Conditions | Ashdown Driving Academy

Driving Lesson Terms & Conditions

Introduction
The following Terms & Conditions represent the basis upon which driving lessons and courses are offered by your local Ashdown Driving Academy (ADA) Instructor. Each ADA instructor operates their own driving school business under franchise of Ashdown Driving Academy and have agreed to be bound by the following Terms & Conditions.

General Conduct
All ADA instructors are bound by a professional code of conduct. Your ADA instructor will be polite, clean, tidy, punctual and professional at all times. Their ADA vehicle will be well maintained and kept clean and tidy. All ADA vehicles are fitted with dual control and are fully insured for driving tuition. While giving tuition, ADA instructors will not use your lesson time to conduct any other form of business, personal or otherwise. ADA instructors will also refrain from using a mobile phone during lessons. Smoking is not permitted in an ADA vehicle at any time.

You as the student, are requested not to smoke or use a mobile phone during lessons and are required to behave in a manner that does not provoke or intimidate your ADA instructor. Aggressive or violent behaviour, either physical or verbal, will not be tolerated and all future lessons will be cancelled and tuition with Ashdown Driving Academy will cease with immediate effect. Any monies that have been prepaid by the student will not be refunded.

Side note, your local ADA driving instructor, in order to keep you, other road users and general public safe, may need to take control of the vehicle or even grab the wheel to prevent an accident from happening, please allow them to do this, it is for your own safety.

Qualifications
The Driving & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is the government body that examines, licences and controls the standards of all driving instructors in the UK. Your ADA instructor is examined, licenced and regularly checked by the DVSA.

Driving Licence & Eyesight
To learn to drive on the roads, you must have a valid provisional driving licence, you should carry this with you at all times whilst driving a vehicle. The driving instructor should ask to see your licence before the first lesson is to commence, once they have seen your licence they will not need to see it again.

You must be able to read (with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) a car number plate made after 1 September 2001 from 20 metres.

Lessons
Lessons are to be booked and noted in your driving skills workbook and to be signed or initialed by you and your instructor, this is to avoid any confusion of time or date.

You ‘the student’ should allow for five/ten minutes before the end of all lessons, this is to give you and your instructor time to discuss any issues you may need to work on and to get booked in for another lesson. Two hour lessons and above will require a small break in the middle, this is beneficial for concentration and for discussions if required. Your instructor may pull you over on the side of the road to discuss issues, for teaching purposes and/or take you out of harm's way if needed.

Lesson pickup and drop off location should be discussed at time of booking, if you would like a lesson to start from a school/workplace and finish at home, please let your instructor know in plenty of time, so that they can work their following lessons around this. If you can’t do this at time of booking then at least 48 hours notice period is required, any time after this notice period may result in the lesson ending earlier, so that your instructor can get to their next lesson on time. Any time lost due to lack of communication, between you and your instructor, will NOT be refunded and you will NOT be given any extra time added onto another lesson.

Cancellation
If you wish to cancel or re-schedule a lesson your local ADA instructor requires notice of at least 24 hours prior to the lesson commencing. If the instructor has not been notified within this time period, then the full payment of this lesson will still be due, unless otherwise discussed with your local ADA instructor.

Payments
Payments should be made directly to your local ADA instructor, it is between student and instructor to decide on the method of payment, however bank transfer is usually recommended so that there is a visible trail of transactions and both parties can be sure that payments have been made.

Price Changes
Whenever ADA has a change in price, students will be notified at least 30 days prior, which will be written down on paper and will be signed and dated by both instructor and student, to show that you both agree on the new price. Students will keep a signed copy and the instructor will keep a copy, for any future disagreements on this subject.

Vehicle
In the interests of customer and public safety, your ADA instructor reserves the right to withhold the use of a car for the test if, in their opinion, your driving is actually or potentially dangerous.

Your ADA learner vehicle will be fully insured for the purpose of giving lessons and also for a driving test. The vehicle will be kept clean and tidy at all times.

Test Bookings
Theory tests will NOT be accompanied by your driving instructor, you must make your own arrangements for attending your theory test.

When booking a Driving test, please ensure that you notify your driving instructor, before booking the test, this is to make sure that the driving instructor is available for the date and time that you would like to do your test.

Exceptions can be made for you in certain circumstances, and we as driving instructors will try our best to accommodate, but for the best possible chance of us being available for you, always contact us first.

Please be aware that the price paid for the Driving Test fee does NOT include the use of your local ADA instructor's vehicle or for any lesson/instruction prior to the test. Therefore you ‘the student’ will pay the current rate for use of the vehicle during a driving test.

Test Cancellation
Three clear working days notice of cancellation or postponement is required by the DVSA. Failure to provide the required notice will result in the loss of your test fee. Your ADA instructor is not responsible for any postponement or cancellation of tests by you or by the DVSA.

Refund Policy & Warranties
Please Note: No refund will be available if 12 months has passed since the initial date when payment was received (by an ADA instructor or through ADA) this is in regards for any lesson type.

You are well within your rights to cancel your prepaid tuition with Ashdown Driving Academy at any time (if you need to know about the cancellation of individual lesson (s) then please see (cancellations). If at the time of cancellation (of the prepaid tuition) you have not taken any lesson (s) then you will be able to receive a full refund of any amounts paid to Ashdown Driving Academy or to an ADA instructor, this is in accordance with the points made in this section and below.

Please be aware that if you have taken any lesson (s) at the time of cancellation (of the prepaid tuition) then you will NOT be entitled to a refund, and will therefore lose any monies that have been prepaid.

If ADA are to make a refund then we will try our best to pay back using the same method that the monies had been received, however we reserve the right to pay back using a different method, if the first method isn’t possible for us at that time.

Any lesson type purchased must be used within a 12-month period from the purchase date. Any unused sessions will expire after this period and cannot be refunded or carried over. If you have commenced your lessons and have hours remaining, these hours must also be used within the 12-month period from the purchase date. Any remaining hours not used within this timeframe will expire and are non-refundable.

ADA vouchers are non refundable in any way, once a voucher is purchased, you must take all lessons or you will lose the money of which the voucher was paid for. If you purchase a voucher and you don’t use this voucher within 6 months, then the voucher will be invalid and any monies paid will be lost.

To be able to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations act 2007 we might need to ask you for additional information confirmation of your identity.

Please allow up to 10 working days for any refunds to reach your account.

Limitation of Liability
At Ashdown Driving Academy, we are in no way liable to you in regards to any of the following;

Loss of Business
Loss of/or anticipated remuneration

Loss of data
Loss of opportunity or business interruption
Loss of goodwill or damages of reputation
Losses of a third party

Ashdown Driving Academy cannot guarantee that issues within the website will be corrected, that functions that are contained throughout the website will always proceed uninterrupted or error free. Ashdown Driving Academy is not liable for any viruses or malware that could be transmitted between users and/or devices.

Transferability of Lessons
You can NOT sell or transfer lessons which have been purchased in your name to another person.

If you have purchased a voucher then this, as is stated on the voucher, is not transferable as the voucher will require the student name and therefore would be a breach of these terms and conditions

Punctuality
In their own interests students are advised to be punctual for their lesson appointments. All such appointments should be recorded and checked where possible by their local ADA instructor to ensure that mistakes are avoided.

The ADA instructor will wait for a maximum of 15 minutes, from the lesson start time, before the lesson would be abandoned and the lesson fee forfeited or become due for payment. A reciprocal waiting time may become necessary if the ADA instructor is delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. Any lesson time lost as a result of this would be made up by the ADA instructor either at the end of the normal lesson time if possible or at a later date. Any such shortfall should be recorded in the driving skills workbook and initialled by the ADA instructor.

Any lesson which starts later than the specified time, due to your ‘the students’ fault, will still end at the originally stated time and you ‘ the student’ will still be charged the full lesson amount.

Student Comfort & Safety
In the interests of comfort and safety students are advised to wear suitable footwear and clothing which does not restrict movement and must not restrict sight. Students must also take note of any medication they are taking that may affect their ability to drive safely and advise their ADA instructor accordingly before taking any lesson booked.

ADA Instructors are, within their rights to refuse or continue forward with a lesson if they believe that the student is under the influence of alcohol or drugs at any time before or during the driving lesson.

Data Protection
Any Personal Data you provide will be held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Ashdown Driving Academy will only use the data that you provide to us to pass to our driving instructors. We will however supply your details to any police authority or fraud investigation team should we legally be required to do so. We may contact you to advise you of special offers from time to time, however we will not pass your details to any third parties without your consent.

ADA instructors might want to take photographs or videos of the pupil after they have passed their driving test, to upload onto our website or social media pages, this should be done only with consent from the pupil. Also the ADA instructor can ask for the pupil to then leave a customer review of their experience with the ADA instructor, this can be requested by either the instructor or from ADA.

Complaints Procedure
If you have any concerns or complaints, these should be placed in writing. If you have a complaint regarding your Instructor, you should in the first instance discuss any issues that you have with your Instructor. If the Instructor is unable to resolve any dispute or matter of dissatisfaction, then in the second instance your complaint may be escalated by placing the complaint in writing to: hello@ashdowndrivingacademy.com. A member of our Customer Care Team will respond to your written complaint within 5 working days. All complaints are taken very seriously, so please apply every detail that you feel needs to be included and addressed within this written complaint.

Nothing in these terms and conditions will affect the statutory rights you may have as a consumer.