I will try to be as objective as possible, concentrating on the facts., save for my own recommendations at the end: *My instructor was named Nisar Ahmadi. I had a 2-hour lesson for GBP50 and then paid GBP799 for a 30-hour intensive course in an automatic car. This included two hours for the test *I had texted 30 driving schools before arranging these lessons. Nisar was the only instructor with an automatic vehicle who was willing to start and end lessons in my village. He was very flexible with his time, which I appreciated *At the beginning of my first night lesson (in Oxford), Nisar asked me for my views on religion, which I found surprising to say the least. I don't think that was the appropriate time or place *Upon hearing my religious views, Nisar urged me to read the Koran. I found this plain uncomfortable. But I'd already paid the GBP799 and didn't fancy my chances of getting it back. Also, Nisar was the only instructor out of the 30 I'd contacted who was able to give me lessons to suit my schedule/location. He encouraged me to explore Islam on at least two further occasions, despite my silence on this subject *Nisar never once asked to see my provisional license *After 19 hours of the 28, Nisar had not even begun teaching me how to reverse around a corner. Admittedly the snow made this difficult (it was tough to see the pavement), but it proved to be a fatal mistake: I failed my test solely because the manoeuvre I was asked to do was reversing round a corner, and I made a major error in doing so *Nisar failed to inform me that at the beginning of the test I would be asked vehicle maintenance questions. He advised me to go on the website the night before the exam. Literally minutes before the exam, in the test centre car park, he opened the bonnet and showed me where the brake fluid, coolant, etc was located. I found this amazing, that he would be so badly organized as to leave this to the very last minute (he knew that I did not have my own car to practise in) *Unfortunately Nisar's English is at times hard to follow. This is no criticism of him as an immigrant, but I think it's imperative that an instructor speaks flawless English. One mistake he made in particular was significant: during my first lesson he advised me that, when turning right, I must be left of the lane. This didn't make sense to me. He repeated, left of the lane. I later realised he meant, left of the line (in the middle of the road) *During a lesson in Oxford, I mentioned in conversation that a close friend of mine is a police officer in the city. Bizarrely, Nisar asked me if I could ask my friend to help him deport a Greek man whom he has a problem with. It was astonishing, and in my opinion not at all appropriate *Similarly, he told me the full name of a woman he taught who had recently failed. Personally, I would not want him giving my name to others and discussing me with strangers *The January snow meant that some lessons were not possible, and I was therefore not ready for my originally scheduled test. Nisar suggested that I take it anyway, as practice. I asked what would happen to the remaining lessons that I'd paid for, in the unlikely event that I passed. He suggested refunding half the money, which I did not think was fair at all *Furthermore, I explained that my boss would pay for the course if I passed first time (as an incentive). Nisar suggested that I schedule a second test very soon after the first, if I fail, but to tell my boss that I'd only had one test, if I passed the second time, so that he'd pay. I explained that my boss, who is obviously very generous, is someone I also consider as a friend. Nisar quickly changed his tune: It's good to be honest *Nisar seemed reluctant to give me a receipt for the course. I asked him again and again, and finally received a blank receipt some two weeks after the initial request. His explanation for it being blank was that he was late to his next lesson *He was late to my lessons roughly half of the time, and cancelled one of them two minutes before it was due to start *Mid-way through the course Nisar said, I need you to pass to help my record *He frequently complained about the long commute he had to make to get to lessons, and on two occasions he expressed malcontent about the amount of petrol he was using. My take on that is that we had made a commitment to one another, and such complaints were of absolutely no benefit *Nisar angered me with his actual tuition on a few occasions, especially when, after just four hours of lessons, he smiled because I was making the same mistake. Why you keep getting it wrong? he asked. I retorted: I've only been driving for four hours!! *It's difficult to imagine a less professional instructor. When I look back at the 30 hours we spent together I feel it would make for a great comedy show about what a driving instructor should NOT be *The best thing about this driving school, or so I thought, was the customer read more