It's hilarious how the only people saying good things about this school are the instructors working there. If you wanted to know how good a business was would you listen to their staff or their customers? Let me tell you all exactly what it means to be fully qualified because Bill Plant is always banging on about it and it's very misleading. There are two ways that you can become a driving instructor. 1) You do 6 months with learners on a trainee licence to get experience before taking an exam to prove you can teach. This is a great way of you getting some experience as you train and for learners it can work because they often get a discount on lessons. You can easily tell if your instructor is a trainee because they'll have a pink badge instead of a green one. 2) People that want to become instructors go out in cars with other instructors and one pretends to be a learner as the other teaches them. You can tell Bill Plant uses this method because they're always shouting about We don't use trainees! All of our instructors are fully qualified!. Other schools do this as well as letting them teach learners but school's like Bill Plant ONLY use instructors pretending to be learners which is very fake and doesn't prepare you for a real learner. It's a bit like wrestling with a blow-up crocodile and then wrestling with a real one not the same thing! Which do you think would create a better driving instructor? Someone who's taught learners and then qualified or someone who has taught instructors pretending to be learners? Fully qualified means nothing! read more

We read this the day after my sons first lesson and was hoping it was going to improve! On his first hours lesson, he actually drove for 1/2 a mile and had got into 2nd gear! We booked a 2 hour lesson for his 2nd /3rd lesson, hoping he was going to be doing some driving if he did 2 hours! Mark, drove my son to Coxs Moors wood car park to drive around for some time and then my son was then drivin almost back home; to drive for 5 mins, to arrive 15 mins early back on our drive ( My son, kept himn talking to get his full 2 hours). His 4th/ 5th hour ( 3rd and Final lesson ).After Spending 20 mins on our drive before pulling off, he actually done a bit of driving this time, but not too much; of course! he got back to our's 20 mins early, as he had a sore throat! Can anyone see a pattern? My Son Said "Mark was a nice Bloke" but they are paid to do a job and they seem to just be prelonging lessons to get as many lessons as they can. This is Back Firing on them in a big way as my son is 17 and all his friends are of an age and recommend or not! as the case may be. We have booked up now after having 5 Lessons for £50 and the next 5 lessons at a loads cheaper rate than Bill Plant and will recommend them, if anyone want their name and number? Leave a reply! Don If any school dont drive for at least 45 mins loose them. We have! read more

Following on from Ronnie's comments I would agree with him. I have been with Bill Plant since their very early days when we were driving 1.0L Corsas. Not bad now is it with a fleet of over 500 Audi's. Great feedback from the pupils as well. Have been driving Hyundai iX35's for a couple of years and now the Audi Q3. Never once had any negative feedback about the cars quite the reverse. As far as bad driving instructors is concerned, we all know that there are some poor ones out there and they migrate from one school to another leading to a poor pupil experience. From time to time they will join companies like Bill Plant so don't judge the whole school by the odd rogue instructor. I know that Bill Plant is working heavily on QUALITY and not quantity with instructors. The vast majority of us are out there providing the best we can deliver for our pupils. I am sometimes asked by pupils if they can have another introductory offer remember it is an introductory offer so it only applies once. £56 for the first 5 hours has been around from the beginning so with inflation it gets cheaper each year. It's a great way to start as a pupil and gives pupils 5 hours to get used to the instructor and the car. Hope these comments help any pupils looking at Bill Plant as their driving school read more

Took up the 5 lessons for £56 offer that was advertised on their website. In that time, I was not allowed to drive from my house I was always driven somewhere, and then allowed to drive (I live in a cul-de-sac, off a fairly minor road as well). One of the lessons was a double, so in total I had four independent lessons out of those I visited the petrol station three times. On the last lesson, I was driven to somewhere that tests generally take place, which took about 30 mins each way, so only an hour behind the wheel. During this lesson, I was practising left turns when the instructor had to take a call. After about five minutes of rambling, I was asked to pull over so that she could sort out her insurance details. Not only was this illegal, it was extremely rude. I told her i'd think about taking up more lessons on the way home, but definetly wasn't going to go back. Tried to submit a complaint via their website, and was contacted the next day by telephone from another Bill Plant instructor who wanted to know how many lessons I wanted to book. He had been told an enquiry had been made into lessons, when in fact I was trying to complain. A complete waste of both time and money, and it put me off driving for two years. read more

Well I had my first lesson with Bill Plant last week thought the price was great but I was quite unimpressed found the instructor very unprofessional didn't really explain things properly probably as tedizz mentioned not qualified however I still have 4 more lessons to go so I will see how it goes and maybe update you guys :) Ok so update after 6 lessons with bill plant I dropped them, seriouisly unimpressed and pretty much put me off driving for life, as my so called instructor got me to drive on the busiest road in my area and nearly got me killed! he was completely useless getting me to drive on roads like that with not much knowledge and experience which he knew! Please do not go with bill plant you will regret it, I do, oh and another thing very pushy and money grabbing asking me to have a lesson the next day after I'd just had a two hour one, who has a four lesson a week? seriously? stupid! leaving me voice messages and texts asking for lessons do not go with these cowboys! read more

so had the first 5 lessons for £56 in that time he cancelled once just before my lesson after i got ready and prepared myself. iv had 10 lessons in all with them and in that time he cancelled 5 times just before my lessons and as i had been with someone else before these i was close to test standard spoke to my instructor monday cuz i had a lesson and he cancelled because he was running late and told me to book my test and rearranged for today. left me waiting outside for half hour didnt answer my calls or texts so i ring bill plant and get told he has left after telling to book my test now i have noone to teach me and polish me up for my test so all in all they are totaly unreliable and will leave u in the learch!!! read more

I had 5 lessons for £56 first then £170 for 10 lessons. first i thought i got a really good cheap lessons blah blah blah but after 20 hours of driving i got fed up and changed to AA my instructor couldnt stop telling me cluch down gear 1 handbrake off gear 2 etc after 20hours of learning! he wouldnt let me drive on my own because he kept telling me what do to i said to him i think you should let me drive on my own because in my test i will be stuck, as i rely on you like this he said ok but still carried on got my first lesson booked with AA now which i paied £197.50 for 10 hours hopefully they will be better than bill plant read more

I am an ADI with Bill Plant National Driving School and I think it is (in my opinion) the premier Driving School in the country. Yes there are complaints about some intructors but you will get that with ANY Driving School. The instructors are in general very good (all fully qualified), enthusiastic and care about there pupils. I would recommend the school to anybody. You are also learning in a superb car the Audi A3 or Q3 I ahve taught in the Corsa, Fiesta & Hyundi and the Audi is the best by far. Don't be put off by the Q3 it looks big but all my pupils loce driving it and find it a joy to drive. Ronnie Lamont read more

my son had been having lessons with a instuctor in solihull, he was happy with her, the day of his test approached, he made sure she was ok for the day and time, she was. 20 mins before his test time she texted him to say she wont be comming. We were disgusted. A complaint was made to headoffice and their response was because she hadnt done anything like that before they will refund the test fee. She still works for them, my son has had to wait another 3 months for a test, as the date is getting nearer, he has in the back of his mind what if it happens again. i will never recommend bill plant to anyone. read more

i have had driving lessons with bill plant for 14 weeks now , and my instructor as only been on time twice , has also phoned my self to cancell about 5 lessons less than an hour before they shud of started and not turned up atall for the last 2 weeks when i did manage to get intouch with him he told me his car had brokened down which was a load of rubbish has a friend saw him during this time i feel like i have to start all over agin now and wasted loads of time an money . I would advise anybody not to make the same mistake as me and to avoid bill plant like the plaugue . read more

Terrible instructors, poor quality lessons and very unreliable. They look great on paper, boasting cheap deals, fully qualified instructors, using Audi's and with a flashy website but there's nothing to back it all up. The first few lessons seem cheap but then you find out that the cost is going to be over £10 an hour more usually! From £14 an hour to £25+ per hour. If you choose not to take more then you get bombarded by aggressive calls, emails, texts and even letters in the post. There are plenty of good schools out there, don't make the mistake of choosing this one. read more

after 17 1/2 hrs and £331.00 later i was just begining to do some proper driving on road after spending all the rest of the time doing left and right turns . Tried another instructor from the AA wow, first lesson drove from my house done loads of things i was told could not do and my new instructor told me there was nothing wrong with my driving. 2nd and 3rd lessons drove from bham city centre to kiddiminster and bromsgrove in all kind s of traffic. my advice if your not happy after three lessons get a second opinion and dont go with bill plant. read more

I completed over 40 hours of practice with Bill Plant using the same instructor and car, only to be let down right before my test. Despite booking the test based on their confirmation, they failed to provide the promised car for cover. This shows a complete lack of responsibility and professionalism. If a driving school cannot guarantee test cover after so many hours of paid lessons, then the lessons hold no real value. Extremely disappointing experience - I would not recommend this school to anyone who wants reliability and proper support. read more

I paid £56 in advance and my instructor never even turned up, after dozens of calls to them i was told i would get nothing back, i then read in a local paper that there are dozens of pupils in my area who have paid and not had lessons after instructors run off with the money. I finally had an instructor come round in an old wreck of a car with dents all over it who spend most of the hour smoking. Make your own mind up. read more

The bill plant driving school is excellent my instructor paul from burton on trent gives a full hour with all the right teaching materials which are used to help me with his ability to teach and getting the message of the importance of driving safely at all times. And he is fully qualified and also helped 4 of my female friends to pass 1st time.The best read more

Hi there Just passed my test with my local driving instructor from cwmbrangwent. always ontime patient and always on time, also mys sister and brother in law all passed with her this year. So if you live in the newport, torfean, or cardiff always ask for mel, Thankyou kevin samuel read more

I cant fault Bill Plant at all! Staff were extremely friendly on the first call and the instructor contacted me within the hour, he was always punctual and never missed a lesson. I passed after 15 hours! Go Bill Plant!! read more

I had a fantastic experience with Bill Plant Driving School. My instructor was excellent. He was always ready to help & solve queries. I would definitely recommend Bill Plant Driving School Birmingham. read more

Highly recommended driving school! This driving school is perfect to teach you the skills needed to drive well & pass your driving test. Thanks Bill Plant Driving School Birmingham. read more