Alpine Driving School Terms & Conditions

Please fully read before accepting

1. Please try to respond to any messages promptly, ideally as soon as possible during the same day. I’ll also try to respond to messages from you as soon as possible, ideally during the same day.

2. Before starting lessons, you will be asked for some basic information about yourself. However, if there is anything else you feel I should know which could assist with facilitating your learning, please do not hesitate to disclose this. All information provided is treated in the strictest of confidence.

3. You must hold a valid driving licence. Before commencing lessons, you must provide the details requested (Photocard licence & NI number) to enable a successful licence check to be carried out online. A picture of your photocard licence may be taken for insurance purposes. Any subsequent changes to your licence status, such as the addition of points for an offence, or due to medical reasons, must be disclosed ASAP. At the first lesson, you must make your photocard licence available for verification by our instructor.

4. Lesson pickup and drop off points will be discussed and agreed in advance. Whilst your instructor will make every effort to try and accommodate any changes, please try to let them know at least 48 hours before if any changes might need to be made to pick up/drop off location.

5. Please be punctual as any delays in the start and finish times of lessons could impact upon lessons later in the day. If you are late for the start of your lesson you may lose some of your lesson time. However, if any delays are due to your instructor and the lesson duration has to be shortened, you will be credited with the lost time to be used later.

6. Please wear clean and comfortable clothes to avoid damage to the upholstery of the vehicle. Also, we do recommend wearing flat shoes. Crocs, high heels or flip flops are not acceptable. (ref point 10)

7. Lesson fees should be paid in advance and as agreed with your instructor. This will usually be at least 48 hours prior to the next lesson for which payment is due. Ideally, payment will be made by the preferred method, which is bank transfer, however, cash is also acceptable. There are no card readers in our vehicles. Prepayment confirms each lesson regardless of verbal communication.

8. Please provide at least 48 hours’ notice if you wish to cancel a lesson. In the event of cancellation in less than 48 hours’ notice, the fees for that lesson will still be payable at a 50% rate. If you cancel in less than 24 hours, then the lesson is payable at 100%. If lessons are frequently cancelled, we reserve the right to refuse future tuition in these circumstances.

9. We reserve the right to amend driving lessons if we are unable to keep the appointment in the event of pre-booked driving tests, mechanical breakdown, sickness, pre-booked holidays or due to immovable traffic or other unplanned circumstances. Lessons will be confirmed verbally in detail before making any lesson booking.

10. If you present for a lesson and appear not to be fit to drive due to alcohol, drugs, illness, or any other reason, your instructor reserves the right to cancel the lesson, for which the lesson fee will still be payable at 100%. We reserve the right to refuse future tuition in these circumstances.

11. Prepaid lessons should be taken within 6 months of payment being made, after which any remaining hours will be forfeited. If you are unable to use any remaining hours within that period, you may request a refund. The refund will be of the amount originally paid, less the cost of any hours already taken at the full applicable Pay As You Go (PAYG) rate. This same calculation will be applied if a refund is required for any other reason.

12. Our vehicles will be fitted with dual controls and will be well maintained, clean and tidy at all times (subject to reasonable wear and tear, and use throughout each working day).

13. Your instructor will not be liable for any failure of the training vehicle during a lesson or the practical driving test. Training vehicles will be checked thoroughly prior to a practical test to ensure that they are clean and tidy throughout.

14. Driving Tests – Your instructor will carry out the booking once they agree that you’re 100% ready to take the driving test and they are available for that date. The booking will be made through the instructor booking portal and the test slot will remain the property of Alpine Driving School until 3 days before the test. That means your instructor reserves the right to amend the test booking if they feel that you’re not 100% ready to take the practical driving test. The DVSA test fee & test day fee need to be cleared 48 hours prior to the test day, otherwise the test day won’t be confirmed in the instructor’s diary. If you book your driving test without letting your instructor know, they may refuse to take you to it (please see point 15).

14a. Your instructor will only allow you to take your test in his car if, in their judgement, your driving is at the required standard and you have a good chance of passing. If your instructor does not consider your driving to be at the required standard for you to have a good chance of passing the test, their car will not be made available to you on test day. Having ‘a go anyway’ or ‘test dates are hard to find’ is not an acceptable reason.

14b. If you pass your driving test with zero driving faults (‘clean sheet’), upon request, your instructor will refund you £62, being the current value of a weekday practical test. To qualify for this refund, the request for it must be made within 5 days of the successful test date. This does not apply to weekend tests.

15. Upon successfully passing your test, your instructor will ask that you allow a picture of you to be taken holding your pass certificate beside the tuition car, and that you give permission for this to be displayed on the Alpine Driving School website and Business Facebook page. If you do not wish for this to happen, please inform us. Also, when you complete the course, we would be grateful if you could leave an online review, for which a link will be provided.

16. We reserve the right to video record our lessons using dash cams and personal body cameras. This is for private use, not public, and includes legal disputes and insurance claims. These recordings are the personal property of the instructor.

17. Last but not least, your instructor will expect a high standard of learning and driving. To be fully prepared for the test, we expect you to be respectful and listen to what we are trying to teach you. ‘Show me & tell me’ questions must be learned at an early stage. If your instructor feels that there’s clear ignorance in tuition, they have the right to refuse future driving lessons.