"Hi, I've got a lesson later today can you pick me up from.....?"
"Do you mind if you drop me off in town at the end of the lesson?"
Your Instructor might be able to, but don't be surprised if the answer is a polite no!
There may be a number of reasons for this, but it definitely isn't just to be awkward.
Most Driving Instructors set their diaries up to provide lessons of between one or two hours duration. This means they are teaching quite a few different pupils each day and usually over a weekly cycle. Your instructor will agree a pick up and drop off location at the time of booking and then fill their diary spaces with pupils from a similar location.
To keep costs down and to maximise their use of time, they organise enough time between lessons for travelling to the next pupil and to take a short break - it can be hard work teaching people to drive, so regular breaks are required.
In these pandemic times we even have to plan a cleaning down break or a comfort break as many of the usual local public toilets have been closed.
In addition to this they will have to consider the impact this request will have on the lesson plan and how suitable the location is to your level of ability and also the impact it will have on arriving on time for the next pupil.
I recall a pupil asking, as his lesson started, if he could be dropped off in the area we intended to practice, which was around a 15 minute drive away from his home. My next lesson was due to start 15 minutes after his ended and his home was 10-15 minutes from my next pupil - but in the other direction from where he'd asked me to drop him off. This would have meant we finished the lesson half an hour away from my next pupil. Do you see the problem?
This would have had a knock-on effect with all of my subsequent bookings and put me behind schedule for the rest of the day.
I gave him two choices - both are in my terms and conditions; either finish at home as was agreed when booking the lesson or end his lesson fifteen minutes early to allow me the time it would take me to travel back. This travel time is taken from the scheduled lesson time. He chose to be dropped off early.
On the next lesson he insisted that I owed him fifteen minutes extra because he'd finished early. I had to politely explain that when booking he had booked an hour of my time. His obligation when booking was to pay for the time he had reserved as no one else could use that time.
It's wise to keep in mind that you are employing the services of a professional - you are paying for both their time and expertise.
My best advice is to plan your commitments around your lessons so that they don't impact on your learning or your finances and remember that the lesson journey isn't just a drive around the area, it's planned learning time based on your learning needs.
