I did my first motorway lesson this morning and everything went completely according to plan. The pupil said it was the best lesson he’d ever had.
Ironically, the only thing that I’ve had any negative thoughts about concerning lessons on motorways is if any pupil should panic and slam the brakes on. So as we left the M1 at Junction 23 to go through Loughborough, we were turning right at the roundabout, and who should try to overtake dangerously on the merge on to the A512?
Yes,a black Toyota Corolla, registration number KM05 PWX – driven by some stupid bitch who shouldn’t be on the road. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she had her kids in the car, either (all five of them, no doubt). You can see how far over she is in the photo – it was a single lane at this point. And she was speeding, too, once she got past us.
Of course, my pupil duly obliged by braking, but fortunately not too hard, since there were cars behind us.
Nothing directly to do with doing lessons on motorways, but just typical of the twats who infest the roads these days.
The Highway Code has also changed with effect from today. Specifically, Rule 253. This paragraph has been added:
From 4 June 2018 provisional licence holders may drive on the motorway if they are accompanied by an approved driving instructor and are driving a car displaying red L plates (D plates in Wales), that’s fitted with dual controls.
Apparently, learners are still not allowed on certain roads – designated “special roads”. Motorways were specifically designated “special roads” until today, but the Law has changed on that. So the big question has to be: what other “special roads are there?”
I have to be honest and say that until I saw this email from DVSA, I had no idea that there was a third category of non-private carriageway beyond normal roads and motorways. After looking it up, it would appear that I wasn’t alone, and a FOI enquiry was made on the subject in 2016 by someone.
It would seem that there is only one “special road” in the whole of the UK. Highways England – and even they had to look into it – responded to the FOI request with:
From the information that we hold, the only non-motorway special road that has been identified is the A282 in Essex and Kent, between M25 junction 30 and south of M25 junction 1b. This section of road includes the Dartford – Thurrock River Crossing.
Why does this country have to be so f—ing stupid? But anyway, the fact remains that as of today (4 June), learners can be taken on any road in the whole of the UK – except for the f—ing A282 in Essex and Kent (unless another one crawls out of the woodwork).
Jesus H Christ.
Update: A reader informs me that there is a stretch of the A55 in North Wales which is also classed as a “special road” (and maybe part of the A1 ‘oop north’). I’ve actually driven on that when visiting Llandudno one time before I became an instructor.
Ahhh. Llandudno. Every other shop is a Mobility shop. And (some) people drive around with wheelchairs on the rhino horns on the back of their cars. I’m not making that up. Much. And you’ll get tarred and feathered if you pronounce “Llandudno” the way it’s spelled while you’re there.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere that when I first started taking card payments from my pupils, I chose iZettle. Everything was fine (without anything to compare with) until the time they updated their app and it wouldn’t run on my smartphone. They basically told me to get stuffed – effectively almost killing my business overnight – which prompted me to switch to PayPal. By the time they came back and admitted they had made a mistake, it was too late.
Ironically, I would have chosen PayPal in the first place if their staff hadn’t been so incompetent at the time, but the bad information I was given had ironed itself out by the time iZettle screwed up, and the switch was easy.
PayPal is much better than iZettle ever was. The main plus point being that any money you take can be in your account within minutes, as opposed to the “several working days” (aka a week, if you have bank holidays and a system fault to deal with at Easter or Christmas). PayPal is 24/7, whereas iZettle was 24/3 if you were lucky, and 0/7 if you weren’t.
The language is suitably business-like, and it isn’t possible yet to say why this has happened, given that iZettle was apparently ready to list itself on the Swedish stock exchange. Surprisingly, it had targeted being “in profit” for 2020 (compare that to PayPal, which has been “in profit” since the Age of the Dinosaurs). However, I get a number of hits from people who are having problems with iZettle judging by the search terms used, so I have my own opinion.
This article was originally written a few years ago, but it has become extremely popular, and gets hundreds of hits a week.
The original article refers to all Focus models between 2016 and 2018 (not the latest model). The reset procedure is different on the 2019 Focus and be careful with that because there may be an issue with the latest model that Ford is being very cagey about (see later). Also note that this applies to other Ford vehicles – it’s Ford’s software system rather than specific models of car which is responsible.
It all began back in 2016, when I got a message on my brand-new Ford Focus TDCi Titanium centre display telling me that it was due for an oil change. I wouldn’t have minded, except that it was only on 5,500 miles and my official service points (set by my lease agent) are every 12,500 miles.
I spoke with the local dealer, and they said just to book it in so they could reset it. I wasn’t too keen on that, since visits to the dealer inevitably mean at least half a day in lost lesson time.
I didn’t for a moment think it was anything other than an erroneous message. There is an oil warning lamp on the dash which I would never ignore, but centre display messages are a different matter entirely. I mean, how many of us have been driving up a 40% slope only to be advised to change the gear to 4th, 5th, or even 6th? The car just won’t do it. Before I quite realised this, my first action was to buy an OBD II monitor tool so I could check/reset the message myself, but the OBD found no faults, and there was nothing to reset. I should have realised this – and the oil change warning remained stubbornly visible.
Then I did what I should have done in the first place and Googled it. It turns out Ford has a system which gives an oil change warning at various points based on how it thinks the car is being driven. No fault is logged, since the trigger is software-based and is “calculated”. Apparently, you used to be able to set different trigger points manually (in America, at least), but there is no such option in the UK that I can see.
Since 2016, and across at least four other Focuses, I’ve had it come on at as low as around 1,000 miles, and at other silly points shortly after a service. None of my pupils (or me) drives it that badly, of that I’m certain.
How to reset the oil change warning
Resetting it is incredibly simple (pre-2018) – though completely undocumented by Ford. All you do is:
Turn on the ignition (or push the start button with the clutch up)
Press the brake and accelerator fully down
After a moment, the centre display will tell you that the reset is in progress. Keep the pedals down until it informs you that reset is complete. No more oil change warning! From what I understand, this applies to all Focus models from MkII up until the last of the pre-2018 models.
Does this work on other Ford cars?
You’ll have to try it and see. Logic would dictate that Ford has implemented the same procedure on all its current (pre-2019) vehicles. However, when you consider Ford’s indexing system at the back of the User Manual, logic isn’t something they seem to waste much time on, and there’s every possibility that the reset procedure is totally different on other models. If you try it and it works, drop me a line so I can add it here.
I am told it also works on the Ford Fiesta and C-Max.
Does it work on the latest (2018) Focus?
No. Resetting the oil on the new model is done through the settings page on the information console (this is how it ought to have been on the earlier models). You simply scroll to the little cog symbol, then select Information, then scroll down to Oil Life. Press and hold OK and it resets after a few seconds. Mine came on after 3,900 miles!
However, be aware that many people are experiencing the problem in the new (2018) Focus. The dealers are playing as ignorant as ever, and Ford as secretive as ever, but piecing information I have received from readers together there may be an issue with the 2018 Focus where the oil change warning ought not to be ignored.
Can you turn the warning off?
You mean so it doesn’t happen again? No. Damn Ford! All you can do is reset it each time.
How soon should I get my oil changed when the warning message comes on?
For a Focus, if your car is under the manufacturer’s warranty then I think they allow 1,000 miles on top of the normal service points (but check that with your local agents). My lease company allows me the range of 11,500-13,500 to book it in for a service [note: service points were every 12,500 miles up to 2018; they are at 10,000 and 20,000 miles on the latest 2018 models]. Whatever your local agent allows, outside of that might affect your warranty, so I say again: check with them before assuming anything.
Of course, if the oil change warning message appears before 12,500 miles (or whatever your service points are) then you can safely ignore it (or reset it, as explained above) in the pre-2018 models. It isn’t a sensor warning, just a software-based calculated value. If the oil warning dashboard light comes on, though, you mustn’t ignore that.
Note that the 2018 Focus may have an issue, so be careful if you ignore the warning.
You shouldn’t ignore the message because you could damage your car
Someone wrote to me making this point (and that was in 2017, so the previous model). As I have explained above, the alert (it isn’t a warning) is calculated based on how the in-car computer thinks you’re driving. Frankly, when it comes on at around 1,000 miles when you’ve only had the car a few weeks, or several days after it has had a service, and the oil definitely isn’t old, yes you can ignore it. Having said that, read the update at the end of this article relating to the 2018-onwards models (between the lines, there may be an issue that no one at Ford is revealing).
My lease agent sets the service points at every 12,500 miles (pre-2018 models). They will not allow me to have it serviced any earlier (±1,000 miles). I know that Ford talks of 7,500-mile service points, and that’s fine. If you have a private vehicle, then follow their advice. But if the warning comes on at any other time before that you can safely reset it – if nothing else, until you can get it in for its service.
However, note that the 2018 Focus has service points at 10,000 and 20,000 miles, and there may be an issue with oil degradation, so be careful if you ignore the warning.
And I would also point out that this entire article is aimed at people who have their car serviced regularly anyway. If you don’t, and the warning comes on, it’s up to you to decide if you should ignore it. If the oil really is knackered, it needs changing no matter what.
My Ford won’t clear warning messages
It depends which message you are referring to, but if there is an underlying problem, cancelling a message is no good because it just comes back. It’s like the empty windscreen washer message – you can OK it, but it comes back again unless you fill the washer bottle up.
However, there could also be a sensor fault, or a fault with the software, in which case it needs fixing. If you can’t do it, it needs to go to a garage.
Update 10 April 2019: I have heard from an instructor who is with the AA that they’ve been told not to reset the message if it comes on with the 2018-onwards vehicles (the latest model), but to book it into the dealership. My own lease agent hasn’t said anything.
I must say that this would be extremely annoying, as my personal experience of my dealership is that even when there is indisputable video evidence of an intermittent fault occurring several times, they will still insist of having it in for a full day, then not find anything wrong (even though it was obvious they wouldn’t because of what “intermittent” means), and then want it back again the next time it happens. Every lost day costs me up to £200 in earnings.
They did it when I had the floppy clutch pedal problem last year. It turned out to be a known issue with one of the cylinders, and the engineer actually witnessed it sticking down, but they still wanted the bloody thing in, did a namby-pamby hydraulic fluid bleed, then had it in for another day when that didn’t work – which I discovered about an hour after taking it away the first time.
Right now, Sync3 has a habit of freezing (though as of April 2019 there is an update which fixes that). Judging from the Google results on that, it is another known issue. I have videoed the damned thing in its frozen and unresponsive state and shown it to them at the dealership. And… they want it in for a full day to test it. Aaargh.
Update 12 May 2019: Another reader tells me that their dealer has suggested there is a problem with the latest Focus engines and “the oil degrades”. Personally, I cannot see how the oil – synthetic motor oil – can degrade ten times faster than it should but be aware of this if you have a 2018-onwards Focus.
Update November 2019: A reader who had experienced this and had to keep taking his car in has recently told me that the Ford garage eventually informed him that there is a non-safety recall for the problem, and that it is a software issue, requiring an update.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if an oil change really is needed and you ignore it – especially in the new (2018-onwards) Focus, which may have an issue that Ford isn’t letting on about.
Apparently, words like “increased” and “decreased” are considered to be “long and complicated”, so they have been replaced with “bigger” and “smaller” instead. I’ll take their word for it that this solution has addressed an actual problem, and look forward to future changes where “bigger” and “smaller” are replaced with “↑” and “↓” on the grounds that written words are too complicated.
Last December (2017), the driving test was changed to include use of a satnav, and two of the harder manoeuvres were replaced with two that my cat could do. From June 2018, learners will – at long last – be allowed to take lessons on motorways (with an instructor, and not with mum, dad, or best mate Kyle/Kylie).
A couple of weeks ago, I asked a new pupil if they knew about the changes, and they came out with something about “graduated licences”. I pointed out that graduated licences (GLs) have been talked about for almost as long as learners being allowed on motorways has (30 years at least), and although they are a good idea, their introduction is not going to happen in the near future.
I picked up this month’s copy of Intelligent Instructor and saw that Northern Ireland is to introduce such a scheme, and DfT is going to monitor the success of this with a view to introducing a scheme for the rest of the UK. It is worth pointing out that the scheme in NI is set for launch “in 2019/20”. Allowing for a suitable monitoring period, followed by consultation, then the likely changes in the Law, any similar scheme in the UK is unlikely to be seen before 2025. And even that is if there’s a highly favourable following wind (i.e. the same government and no other unrelated problems rearing their heads).
For a start off, IAM is involved, and it is already opposed to night-time curfews – which would be one of the most obvious things to include in any GL system). Then there is some nonsense about post-test training involving parents, when the parents are some of the worst offenders out there. And Theresa May’s hold on power is tenuous at best, so she’s unlikely to risk bringing in anything that loses votes.
The learners-on-motorways saga picked up steam almost ten years ago, but it’s taken until now – with several government changes and other delays along the way – to come to anything. Now, we have Brexit hanging over us like a skip load of manure ready to fall.
Finding an absolutely definitive answer to this isn’t easy. In fact, I’ve found it impossible. However, by piecing various things together, it is possible to come up with a plausible explanation.
It seems that it began in the 1930s, in America. At that time, fuel cost as little as 10 cents per gallon, and considering that cars were quite hungry back then, garages realised that by offering fuel at even a tenth of a cent less than a competitor they were likely to draw in more business. That tenth of a cent represented a significant percentage of the price per gallon back then, so the consumer also benefitted significantly.
You have to realise that garages buy in fuel in huge quantities, and it isn’t priced or taxed in round figures. Also, the profit each garage makes from every gallon (or litre) of fuel it sells these days is very small. In the UK, if fuel was advertised at £1 per litre on a forecourt, the garage in question would only make about 2p profit. The remaining 98p pays for duty, VAT, production and transport, and the overheads of the garage.
So, in 1930s America, garages started showing forecourt prices in fractions of a cent to attract business. I’m fairly certain that even back then, if a price was shown on the board as 10⁹/₁₀ cents (they used fractions and not decimals), there would have been people who religiously worked out how much fuel to put in their cars to avoid the inevitable rounding needed when it came to paying. After all, you can’t actually pay 10⁹/₁₀ cents and realise the cost benefit compared to a competitor, but buy 10 gallons and you have a nice round $1.09 and the full discount.
As time passed, the cost of fuel rose. The benefit to the consumer of pricing in fractions became less, but to the people involved in the supply it was still relevant because the tax on fuel ran to three decimal places, and average prices in any given state to four or more when trying to compare individual garage prices. The car owner might be filling up with a measly 10 gallons, but garages and refiners were dealing with thousands and millions of gallons, and the extra decimal places. But this is where marketing took over.
It is well known that the average buyer will see a £4.99 price tag on something in a different light to one which says £5. In a very fuzzy way, one of them is a whole pound cheaper unless the casual buyer stops to think about it. Well, this works with fuel prices, too. A forecourt price of £118.9p is seen as £118p.
In 50s America and later, as prices rose, the marketing benefit of retaining fractional prices took over, and it has been that way ever since (except perhaps for the adoption of decimals instead of straight fractions).
The UK has always charged in fractions, though the £-s-d monetary system did have ½d and ¼d denominations, which meant actually paying the fractional prices was possible. However, even immediately after decimalisation in 1971, non-denominational fractional prices were used. The picture above is the price list on a London forecourt in 1976 (the days of leaded and unleaded petrol), and it clearly shows fractions of 0.1p, 0.5p, and 0.8p being used – only the 0.5p could have actually been tendered, since there was a ½p coin at the time. It’s also interesting to note that garage prices didn’t start being overtly advertised until about the 70s. Up until then, the price was set on the pump dials, and the picture above shows how crude the system was even in 1976 – a time when the price of oil rose from $3 a barrel in 1973 to $12 in 1974 (a result of the 1973 Oil Crisis). Marketing thus became very significant from the 70s onwards, and now every garage has illuminated signs showing the price.
People often argue that the practice of showing prices to a tenth of a penny is some sort of scam. In reality, at its worst it is simply a marketing ploy, and no different to advertising things at £4.99 instead of £5. I mean, when you buy something at either £4.99 or £5, are you actually getting five pounds-worth of value? The answer is only “yes” if you are buying at cost price, because as soon as someone adds value (by processing it) or their profit margin it becomes a question of “how long is a piece of string?” Fuel has value and profit margins added at multiple stages, and I doubt that anyone in the UK knows what the true day-to-day cost price of a litre of fuel should be based on the unrefined crude oil price. In other words, 0.9p (or 0.7p or 0.5p) tacked on the end of something with a price that fluctuates sometimes daily by 1p or 2p (sometimes more) has no objective financial meaning to either the consumer or anyone else involved in the supply chain.
If fuel is advertised at 118.9p per litre, it doesn’t matter if you see it as 118p or 119p, you’ll still be charged at 118.9p equivalent. If another garage is advertising it at 117.9p, then it is 1p cheaper – whether you’re suckered in by the marketing people or not. Only the price difference between garages (or the price change at a single garage) really matters to the consumer.
Another way of looking at it is what that 0.9p actually means. In my car, if I fill up from empty a difference of 0.9p on each litre would equate to about 40p at current prices. However, as I have mentioned before, pumps have to be accurate to between -0.5% and +1%, and that means that I can quite legally be supplied with up to 30p worth less fuel or 55p worth more.
And the bottom line is that even if the tinfoil hat brigade got its way, 118.9p would become 119p – not 118p – and that would mean paying 5p more on a full tank.
Periodically, I will get a pupil who is desperate to pass their driving test as soon as possible.
When this happens, I explain to the pupil that since the typical new learner in the UK takes an average of around 46 hours to learn to drive, learning quickly is pretty much going to involve getting those 46 hours in in a short period of time. I strongly emphasise that this is an average, and although some people might be able to do it in fewer hours, equally there will be some who require more. I also emphasise that it isn’t a target – if they can do it quicker, great; if they can’t, they’ve got to accept it.
My quickest ever learner – starting from no experience at all – passed his test first time after only 14½ hours of lessons. I’ve had others pass first time after between 17 and 25 hours lessons. Some of these have access to private practice, and some don’t. My own pupils’ overall average number of lessons taken before passing is between 30-40 hours.
At the other end of the scale, my slowest ever learner took 160 hours, and passed on his third attempt. I know of one lady who took over 200 hours and passed on her 7th attempt (100 of those hours were with me before I finally persuaded her to switch to automatic lessons). And I’ve had a few others who have ended up taking 60 or 70 hours before finally passing.
I currently don’t do full-on (as in more than 2 hours of driving a day) intensive courses. The one time I tried, it turned out that the pupil was well into the slow side of the curve, and two intensive courses of 20 hours spaced over a week each time resulted in two comprehensive test fails. My own version of an “intensive” course is a 30-hour paid-upfront package and no more than 2 hours of driving per day. I don’t advertise it, and I only mention it after a positive initial assessment lesson (there’s no way I’m going to offer it to someone who might struggle). As I said above, people have to accept that they might not learn as quickly as they’d hoped.
Recently, I have noticed a renewed interest in intensive lessons. Some people need a licence in order to improve their employment prospects or job security, some want to pass before they go off to university, while others are in the process of converting a full licence from overseas to a UK one. People with previous driving experience are likely to need fewer lessons, and a more intensive style can often suit them.
Of course, I only cover Nottinghamshire, and I am only one of hundreds of driving instructors in this area. So even if I don’t provide full-on intensive lessons, there are plenty of instructors who do. If you Google the topic, a company called PassMeFast crops up a lot. They cover Cheshire, North/South/East/West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Merseyside, and they might be able to help you if you are desperate to get a licence. They seem to offer a wide range of packages.
PassMeFast offers crash courses of up to 48 hours of lessons and, looking at their website, they’re pretty sensible about timescales. The description of that 48 hour course implies that the learner could do as few as four hours of driving per week over a 12-week period. I tell my own beginners to think in terms of 3 months to reach test standard if they are taking regular lessons.
PassMeFast offers both manual and automatic tuition, and they can also help with your theory test. They can arrange for fast-track tests, which take place at the end of your course, and they schedule commencement of your lessons around the test date. Training is done local to you, and the test is at a local centre, so you won’t have to travel. And they offer an assessment lesson so you can decide which course is best for you.
It is also encouraging that in their terms and conditions they make it clear that they won’t allow people to go to test if their driving standards are deemed unsatisfactory by their instructor. PassMeFast does not employ instructors – they simply act as agents between enlisted instructors and pupils seeking lessons. However, they do arbitrate where necessary. And they quite rightly state that they cannot guarantee that you will pass your tests.
Looking at some of the customer reviews on their website, they obviously have a lot of satisfied customers – and they are real ones, as they all have Facebook profiles.
So, if you’re looking to pass your test quickly, and you think that an intensive course might be the way to go, if you’re in an area covered by PassMeFast it can’t hurt to give them a call.
I did my first motorway lesson this morning and everything went completely according to plan. The pupil said it was the best lesson he’d ever had.
I’ve said it before, but this is about 50 years late. But better late than never.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere that when I first started taking card payments from my pupils, I chose iZettle. Everything was fine (without anything to compare with) until the time they updated their app and it wouldn’t run on my smartphone. They basically told me to get stuffed – effectively almost killing my business overnight – which prompted me to switch to PayPal. By the time they came back and admitted they had made a mistake, it was too late.
I must admit that wasn’t aware this was being looked into, but from today 
Last December (2017), the driving test was changed to include use of a satnav, and two of the harder manoeuvres were replaced with two that my cat could do. From June 2018, learners will – at long last – be allowed to take lessons on motorways (with an instructor, and not with mum, dad, or best mate Kyle/Kylie).
A 
Periodically, I will get a pupil who is desperate to pass their driving test as soon as possible.