Driver Skills North East Reviews 61

I had Mel and she was really lovely! She was always patient and supportive, and her flexibility with dates made it easy to book lessons around my schedule. I would absolutely recommend Driver Skills North East to anyone looking to learn to drive, I couldn’t have asked for a better instructor!

Thank you very much :)

After a few issues with previous instructors, Driver Skills North East were flexible with my working hours and location and offered lessons that were suitable for me, which I appreciated a lot.

Highly recommend Simon, who offered great advice and guidance through my lessons, helping me pass the first time. I couldn't have done it without the support Simon gave, helping me become confident in my driving!

Thanks so much!

I had Mel as my driving instructor and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. She was so lovely and made me feel so much better about being on the roads. Thank you so much.

I had Mel as my instructor and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I was learning from scratch when I started and she helped explain everything clearly and had great feedback so I could keep improving.
Loved the weekly lessons and I feel confident in my driving now and I was able to pass first time thanks to the teaching quality.
Couldn’t recommend more!

I was quite nervous at first, having taken a long break from learning. Simon was very patient and calm and helped me rebuild my confidence. Very pleased with my learning experience and 1st time pass!

I had Sarah as my driving instructor. She was lovely to drive with and so supportive. Always giving solutions to the mistakes I made. Highly recommend this Driving school. Will miss the company. Thanks! ❤️

It was my fourth time taking the test, I have spent thousands on other instructors and could not nail the test, I always blamed my learning disabilities or nerve! I mean, hey can't be everyone else's fault. Dave, was so chill from the very beginning and rather picking my techniques apart, he helped me learn my minor corrections in a such a short span of time! Cant express how grateful I am! He was so confident that I would pass, that automatically put my mind in ease.

If anyone wants the most patient , calm, gentle giant of a driving instructor then Dave is your man. He has taught my disabled son to drive and despite many challenges he passed today. He had had other instructors but they gave up on him. But Dave was always so positive !! Thabks so much to this amazing human !

Gareth was mint passed first time highly reccomend

Garreth Phillips was mint passed first try

Had Marco as an instructor for 5 months, cant recommend enough, very helpful always having the answers to any questions and explaining them in an engaging way. He was very flexible with my lessons, even if he had a full week he would always manage to fit me in. Overall very pleased with the school i chose and it paid off as i passed first time :)

Gareth was an excellent instructor, he was really patient and took the time to explain things in a way that I understood and really helped improve my confidence.i would definitely recommend.

I had a great experience learning to drive with Marco. He was always patient and calm, helping build my confidence as a new driver. The lessons were well-structured with flexible timing, and thanks to his guidance, I passed my test on the first try with only one minor. I’d highly recommend Driver Skills North East to anyone looking for a supportive and professional driving instructor.

Driver Skills North East have been excellent! Very professional

I’ve been a driving instructor with Driver Skills North East for the past 10 years, and before that, I worked with several other schools. I can honestly say this is the best driving school I’ve ever been part of.

What sets Driver Skills apart is that they always put the interests of both pupils and instructors first — ahead of business priorities. That kind of integrity is rare.

I wouldn’t consider working anywhere else… not that the manager would let me anyway!

I passed first time with just four minors after learning with Sarah, and I can’t be more complementary about my experience!
Sarah immediately understood my learning style on lesson one and adapted her teaching to ensure I made progress. Sarah’s patient and encouraging approach, combined with her sense of humour and stoic determination that I WOULD succeed, made lessons enjoyable. My work schedule is inflexible and she moved mountains to accommodate our lessons. I faced certain challenges learning to drive and Sarah showed me how to overcome them.
It’s been a life long dream of mine to be able to drive, and because of Drivers Skills North East it has come true. I can’t say thank you enough!

Our son has a disability and was struggling to learn to drive. We swapped to driver skills north east and met Dave. Game changer! Absolutely just clicked with Aaron and just understood him from the start. Dave has immense patience, is friendly and encouraging and Aaron passed his test today. We are so happy. We cannot recommend Dave and driver skills training enough.

If I could award more stars I would!
I passed my test first time today, and I would never have been able to achieve that without Dave from Driver skills north east. He is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and shows endless compassion, patience and support, enabling even the most nervous of drivers to learn to drive in a considerate, calm and safe way. I have had insidious experiences with other driving instructors from other driving schools and I honestly thought that I would never achieve my dream, but Dave kindly agreed to help me do that and I passed my test for the first time today. If anyone is considering learning to drive, please use Driver skills north east and you won’t be disappointed. You will learn how to be a safe driver and those skills will ensure that you and other road users will be safe, long after you have passed your test. Dave makes you feel at ease and has the best sense of humour, but more importantly, he exhibits absolute kindness and empathy throughout and I cannot thank him enough. I feel like I have gained a skill that will change my life, and I can never thank Dave and Sarah enough for all of their support and kindness throughout my learning to drive journey.
If you or your loved one are considering learning to drive, please choose Driver skills north east!

My experience with Driver Skills North East was excellent from start to finish! Sarah is a wonderful instructor with a great sense of humor. She has high standards and a desire to see her students succeed. She teaches students not only to pass their test, but to become considerate, skilled and safe drivers. I was a very nervous learner and was sure it would take multiple tests before getting my license. Thanks to Sarah's excellent teaching and encouragement I passed first time!!!

Key takeaways from their 40 hour manual drive intensive course:

1. Not recommended for beginners:

Felt like learners are expected to have over 100 hours of prior driving experience, I came to this conclusion half way through the course after conversations with the instructor.

The school's public response stated "no one is expected to have taken 100 hours prior tuition".

Yeah paid tuition is not the only way to obtain the needed driving experience, I was talking about needing the driving experience, not how you go about getting it.

...I recommend doing 100 hours driving with friends and family before paying to do this course.

2. Excessive explanations:

Felt like instructor's lengthy explanations reduce driving time down to about 15 hours in total.

...If I was to do the course again, I would politely request concise instructions.

This is what I was told in a public response by the school: "It is my understanding that, on several occasions you chose to ignore your instructors expert advice, choosing instead to talk at length at the instructor to justify your point".

The instructor's version, shared by the school, contradicts mine. I hoped the school's discussion with the instructor would help, but I feel it made things worse. My aim was to get conflict resolution, but I feel I encountered more conflicts when the school got involved. Hopefully their conflict resolution procedures will improve going forward.

… when dissatisfied with this school’s services, I think you should avoid raising points that could lead to hearsay disputes with this school.

3. Need it in writing from an instructor if they cancel your course:

My 3-hour driving lessons credit disappeared off their pupil app, along with the instructor's messages on the app. As of the time of writing, no refund has been issued for the lost credit.

The school publicly said “[our] instructor informed me [the school, that] you [the pupil] chose to terminate your course, our terms and conditions [say] if you [the pupil] choose to terminate your course after the course has started, you [the pupil] would not be entitled to a refund of any remaining tuition”.

I told the school previously that I didn’t cancel the course. I think we have no written proof of either of us canceling the course, so I feel this is accusations that neither party can prove.

… when you buy services off a company, make sure you get it in writing if they choose to cancel or cut short the services so they can’t use their Ts&Cs to deny you a refund.

Positives:

1. Adaptability: Felt like the instructor adjusted teaching style for visual learners towards the end of the course. I felt there was still lots of unneeded repetition before he got to visuals, but he eventually used google maps to show routes and dash board camera replays to show what I had done wrong which I felt was better than him trying to verbally describe it in detail previously.

2. Patience: Felt like the instructor remained calm and avoided shouting most of the time.

3. Flexible with dates: The school adjusted course start date without any issues to accommodate hospital visits.

Hope this summary is helpful!

Update 1:

Just to clarify, my feedback was not regarding Dave, as he was not my instructor. Most of the positive reviews here seem to be specifically for Dave and his lessons in an automatic car. However, I would like to commend Sarah for her delightful customer service during the initial booking process. She was extremely helpful and provided excellent assistance at the start.

Update 2:

Today (Sunday the 13th of August, 2023), the school shared my personal details twice publicly online in two replies to this Trust Pilot review. Trust Pilot took down the 1st reply. Thank you to the school for putting up a 3rd reply which has none of my personal data in it.

I feel the school’s 1st two replies were reckless as the private data they shared could get into the hands of online scammers. I feel this could result in putting my family at risk of being targeted by scammers down the line.

I feel the school abused my trust by sharing my personal details publicly without asking.

Update 3:

I replied to the school's public replies.
Copied and pasted relevant parts of the school's responses from their initial 2 replies on this review (which have since been taken down).