BSM

...waste of money lessons with BSM are.


~The Simulator~
The package also included 2 hours on a BSM simulator in Aberdeen - about an hour and a half's drive from my hometown, Arbroath. I travelled through, feeling optimistic, but after my two hours, I felt I had learnt nothing and had wasted two hours of my life on a fruitless activity. The simulator began with slowly taking me through the controls of the car. It then made ...
...First Lesson~

BSM insisted that I have a two hour lesson to begin with because they would take me through a cock-pit drill etc. I was reluctant as I thought it would be a long and tiring lesson for a first time but agreed since they explained it would be the best way to start. My driving instructor (who I will refer to as John for annonymity) started off making a good impression by arriving five minutes before the start of my lesson. ... more

~First things first~

I turned 17 in June this year and received a package of 6 hours of lessons from my mum for BSM. I thought to start with that this was great and that it would give me a real start with my driving. Little did I know that I would be wasting my money and being talked to as though I was a stupid little girl by a full-grown man. I think it only fair that I let people know what a waste of money lessons with BSM are.

~The Simulator~
The package also included 2 hours on a BSM simulator in Aberdeen - about an hour and a half's drive from my hometown, Arbroath. I travelled through, feeling optimistic, but after my two hours, I felt I had learnt nothing and had wasted two hours of my life on a fruitless activity. The simulator began with slowly taking me through the controls of the car. It then made me do activities such as weaving in and out of cones - pointless tasks which would I would never be asked to do in the practical test. Aside from this, the controls on the simulator were very difficult to use, especially the gear box and the handbrake. Also, the engine sound was not very loud at all, making practicing clutch control virtually impossible since the biting point gave no distinct noise and the simulator did not move with the bite. Finally, I found it impossible to complete some of the tasks due to this and every time a task was failed, the simulator voiceover went over the long sets of instructions again and again. And so my two hours flew by with me learning little more than how to steer - and not even brilliantly. However, I was prepared to give the driving instructor a chance and expected to do well once I got behind the wheel of an actual car.

~The First Lesson~

BSM insisted that I have a two hour lesson to begin with because they would take me through a cock-pit drill etc. I was reluctant as I thought it would be a long and tiring lesson for a first time but agreed since they explained it would be the best way to start. My driving instructor (who I will refer to as John for annonymity) started off making a good impression by arriving five minutes before the start of my lesson. He drove me out to the industrial estate where there are many quiet roads to practice on, but on the way, he asked me a few questions about my impressions of driving and what I expected in terms of lesson amounts.

The first thing he asked me was how many lessons I was expecting to take before passing. I guessed at around 15-20, maybe slightly more since I would not be getting much practice in between lessons due to the insurance on my mum's Renault Megane Scenic being quite high. He practically laughed in my face and told me that anyone that told me they had had less than 40 lesson - yes, thats right, 40! - was lying. At this, I almost burst out laughing, since I had known many people who had passed with under 20 lessons. He then started to smirk and tell me that they were lying to me to hide how many lessons they had actually had. This he told me before I got behind the wheel - not the wisest move in my book.

He then asked me near the end of the lesson how many lessons I wanted to book ahead. I said that I would only book my 6 hours worth because I didnt know if I could afford the prices of driving lessons since I am going to university next year and need all the money I can scrape together. He then said to me that BSM were the cheapest in the town. He told me that lessons with him would be a full hour's lesson whereas the other instructors in town would charge me a little less for 15mins less. To begin with I thought that maybe that he was speaking reasonably, but after a few more lessons, I totally changed my mind about them.

So, on my first lesson, I had two hours. In these two hours, I learned how to steer properly under instruction, turn left and right at a junction under instruction and stop and start at the side of the road - under full instruction. I was fine with that really because it was my first lesson and I was happy to be making the car move forward. However, with hindsight, I see now that I spent far too much time being made to pore over diagrams of what I should do as opposed to just being shown practically how to do it. I should also have been shown a lot more than how to turn around a corner in a two-hour lesson.

~Lesson Number 2~
This came a week after the first one - but a day before I expected. I was up in my room doing my homework like a good girl and my Mum's fiance came in and asked if anyone had a driving lesson since the BSM car was sitting outside. I ran downstairs and sure enough, there was my instructor. When I ran out of the door, he had a look of sheer amusement as always on his face. When I questioned him about the day of the appointment, he shrugged and grinned and said that he had lost his diary and that he hadnt been sure about the date and so had guessed about the date. Of course, since I had a lesson on that day last week, it had seemed obvious that I might have booked it on the same day the week after. So anyway, I was quite annoyed and not really concentrated properly but I made the best of it. This time, we went straight out into the countryside. I got up to national speed limit etc. but all it really did was give me more experience with driving at higher speeds. Unlike with the instructor I am now with, I got up to 4th gear but never to 5th. I never really got taught any clutch control and barely did any town driving at all. Considering the price of the lessons and the fact that I had been getting better turning corners on quiet roads - under full instruction - I had hoped to be taught something new. I was beginning to see where he had got his "44 lessons on average" from. To say the least, I wasnt too happy. Especially since I had booked all of my lessons in advance.

~Lesson Number 3 (apparently)~

So, I waited patiently for my 6pm lesson. I even got ready early since he had a habit of arriving before my lesson. However, 6pm came and went with no driving instructor. Then, at about 6:10pm the phone rang and it was my instructor, telling me that he had just got home having had a slow puncture on the way back from his last lesson. He had apparently been unable to contact me before then because he didn't have my number on his mobile phone. He said that he could take me out but that he would be uninsured. I said that I would leave it for the night but rearrange a lesson after my next booked one. Needless to say I was - as we scots say - "fizzing". I decided that the best thing to do would be to get in touch with BSM themselves but since their office hours coincided with my school hours, my mum phoned up instead. Apparently, they had been told that my instructor had a slow puncture and had to cancel my lesson. However, they were told that I was offered a lesson that night but that I had happily turned it down. I think I can safely say that I sounded anything but happy on the phone that night. Luckily, mum managed to book a lesson for me the next day. I say luckily because by that time I had arranged for a new driving instructor to take over so I could actually learn something. When I eventually got my third lesson, I did most of the same things as in the last two lessons, although I did go on the town's dual carriageway and went around a few round-a-bouts. However, I was still just being told exactly what to do and when to do it. For example, I was never told to get down to 20mph before changing to 2nd gear at a junction, nor to change to 1st gear at the last moment before having to stop at a closed junction.

~Lesson 4~

This time I actually got picked up on time etc. I was glad that it was my second last lesson because of the chaos that had ensued since I started driving. I once again did the usual boring turnings - under full instruction - and did mostly country driving "because those are the routes covered by the testers". Whilst out there, I never once reached 5th gear or did any manouevers. Well, actually, I did do - under full instruction - a turn in the road but was not given the chance to learn properly how to take control of the car myself. Also, I was subjected to a guilt trip about my mum not sounding too happy when she phoned BSM.

~Lesson 5 (FINALLY!)~

Once again, nothing much happened. I did an "under full instruction" turn in the road and more junctions but learnt nothing. Obviously, by the end of my time with BSM I was glad to leave forever. My instructor seemed to think that there was a chance I would be coming back to BSM but he must have convinced himself that I was a stupid little girl - not a 17yr old intelligent woman - ok, so maybe thats boasting! But he just didnt seem to respect anything I said and seemed to want to drag my lessons out as long as possible. I quite believe that his average number of lessons is 44 - thats if he can smarm people into staying with him that long.

Goodness, I feel like I've ranted and raved for far too long but the way BSM run their company - at least in Arbroath - is totally unacceptable. I have since had 6 lessons with a different instructor and - having basically had to start from scratch to actually make myself think for myself - I have done almost all of the manouevers as well as learned to drive independently. Plus my lessons are only £16 for 45mins which usually turn into an hour. Being a school student money is definitely important and having spoke to several driving instructors since while shopping around, I have discovered that BSM is not as good value for money as they say they are. They may pass more people in Britain than any other driving school but they are far more expensive and take far longer to do it than many other instructors.

So, would I recommend BSM? What do you think after reading my epic whinge above? Stick to local private instructors who aren't having to pay a percentage of wages to the big bosses as they seem to be more expensive. Hope it helps - wouldn't want anyone to have an experience like that

Danielle x 

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