Red driving school

[gaz]

Does anyone have a contact e-mail for them?
I want to make a complaint about one of their instructors and how they are teaching their students to pass cyclists.

 

[som3blok3]

info@go-red.co.uk


RED Driving School
The Lansdowne Building
Crowhurst Road,
Hollingbury
Brighton
BN1 8AF



Had a run in have we Gaz??

 

[GrumpyGregry]

0800 840 4200 is their generic contact number.

I know it off by heart as it used to be on a sponsored shirt I wore when doing a different sport

 

[mr_cellophane]

Unfortunately RED are all franchised so you are effectively looking at a one man self employed instructor.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Unfortunately RED are all franchised so you are effectively looking at a one man self employed instructor.

+1

Unless you got the reg no of the car you are wasting your time.

 

[gaz]

+1

Unless you got the reg no of the car you are wasting your time.

I got the reg of the car. I will be writing it up in my blog shortly. But basically, some very poor instructing from the instructor which meant the learner passed a cyclist with less than a foot to spare where no other vehicles on the road. Unfortunately i was driving behind the car and not on my bicycle. So no video evidence.

 

[Glover Fan]

What's not to say the instructor let the learner driver the error of his/her way shortly afterwards?

Just being devils advocate for balance.

 

[PBancroft]

What's not to say the instructor let the learner driver the error of his/her way shortly afterwards?

Just being devils advocate for balance.

With dual controls the instructor can prevent a learner driver from undertaking a dangerous manoeuvre.

 

[Glover Fan]

Not sure being able to brake mid manouvere would be particularly safe for either the cyclist or the driver?!

 

[gaz]

What's not to say the instructor let the learner driver the error of his/her way shortly afterwards?

Just being devils advocate for balance.

Because i saw them make 3 mistakes in a row, with all of those mistakes including a lack of indication and one being a very close pass to a cyclist climbing a hill.

 

[PBancroft]

Not sure being able to brake mid manouvere would be particularly safe for either the cyclist or the driver?!

Well, it does depend upon the situation of course. However assuming that the learner was incorrectly positioned at the start of the manoeuvre applying the brake at this point would enable the instructor to prevent the overtake from taking place, thereby preventing the cyclist from being in danger.

But then, hindsight is always 20:20, and it helps somewhat that the situation occurred somewhere I wasn't! ;-)

 

[mr_cellophane]

The learner could have been taking his test. In which case the examiner wouldn't have done anything unless an accident was inevitable.

 

[PBancroft]

The learner could have been taking his test. In which case the examiner wouldn't have done anything unless an accident was inevitable.

Very true

 

[Smokin Joe]

An examiner would be wearing a reflective tabard.

 

[ohnovino]

They won't care.

Red aren't really a driving school, they're a credit company. People sign up to become instructors in the hope of making decent money, but they have to pay thousands of pounds for the course (in the form of a loan from Red) and then get f*** all help from the company. There's been quite a few attempts to expose them, and I think BBC's Watchdog have done a couple of features.

They're actually about as s*** at running a credit company as they are at teaching people to drive, because they've gone bust a few times and relaunched with the same name, same directors, etc, but leaving people who'd paid up front for the instructor courses with nothing but a massive debt.

EDIT: Just to add, a YouTube search on "Red Driving School" throws up several TV exposés.