Sue's Driving School

Negative experience: I had a terrible experience with Sue's driving school. I booked and paid for 3 days of training and my test fee. When I initially contacted Sue and spoke to her over the phone I was quoted a price for 3 full days of training then given a seperate test date (Which I was charged 150 pounds for even though I've since found out the test fee is only 115). At the end of the 3 days of training (Which was fine bar a terrible morning with Sue as my instructor, where she completely frazzled me and totally knocked my confidence as she was at me from the moment we drove out of the gates and constantly gave me conflicting and confusing information and then berated me for making small mistakes, or mistakes I hadn't even made). She recommended I do extra training 'to be extra confident'. I said I would think about it and let her know, then when I responded with thank-you but I'd like to go ahead with my test as I felt reasonably confident I could pass - She turned rather awful and told me unless I paid for extra training (1100 pounds worth!) they would not allow me to take the test in their lorry, I was dangerous, she could not let me drive 'unsupervised' (also completely insulting the examiners by saying they're only examiners and are useless) and that I was going to cause an accident! This is the first I had heard any of this so called dangerous driver feedback over the whole 3 days. Sue then tried to tell me I owed them 1100 for the extra training (that she had booked without my confirmation) and that regardless of wether or not I took the training I would be paying for it. I told her I would not be taking the extra training as I couldn't afford it (which is why I didn't confirm it when she suggested it, I told her I'd need to see if I could find the extra money) and she told me take out a credit card or get a loan from somewhere/anywhere - But that she didn't care, just pay her the money. I went to another trucking company after this awful experience, after x1 4hour lesson - to take me through a couple of the test routes and to get used to the lorry (split manual gearbox) I passed my test first time with 3 minor driving faults. You are allowed 13, so I hardly scrapped through and obviously the examiner did not feel I was a dangerous driver! The owner of the other company also was not surprised to hear any of this about Sue as she is apparently quite well known in the industry for this kind of behaviour! Absolutely awful experience and I am only writing this so that no one else should have to go through what I experienced as I have since spoken to multiple people that have had scarily similar experiences with Sue, so its not uncommon. I understand some people have had good experiences with Sue and I'm happy for them, however I really feel that she tried to take advantage of a young, female foreigner and was just trying to get as much money out of me as she possibly could, so train with her at your own risk though I would highly recommend against it!

Fantastic experience: Excellent, would highly recommend passed my class 1 first time. Thank you to Sue, Simon and Miranda for all your hard work making it as simple as possible to get my C+E!

Fantastic experience: Amazing! Thank you Sue and Miranda for your patience and persistence! From the first day of training till passing the CAT D Test always explained everything fully to ensure I felt in control at the wheel and keep me calm in areas that could be challenging. It was great to learn with you guys and I wish you all the success in the future!

Fantastic experience: After having failed a HGV test with a different instructor who I realised in hindsight had given me poor training, I met Sue, trained and then passed with her first time. She's passionate about teaching to a high standard with very thorough training & advice. Her vehicles are also chosen to be beginner friendly which will help a lot. Right up until the last few minutes before my test started she was going over Show me Tell me questions again to make sure I knew what I was doing. I was even given warning for my motorcycle test on which roundabouts that candidates fail on. She really wants her students to be prepared enough to pass no matter what. So if you want to give yourself the best chance to get through that test with a certificate to show for it, I would definitely recommend her.

Fantastic experience: Thank you Sue, Miranda and Simon for your outstanding tuition, enabling me to pass my C+E first time! Really friendly, helpful people, great teachers. Nice modern vehicles to learn in. Can't thank you enough!