I keep hearing rumours that Red Driving School has gone under. Certainly they seem to have stopped advertising on the TV – you used to get the ad repeated several times an hour from what I remember.
I should point out that I have also heard that they haven’t folded at all and the stories are rubbish put about by competitors and people who never completed training. At the moment they still appear to be trading.
I’m not sure what the truth is at this stage, but based on supporting information I put a little more faith in the second version (the first seems to be wishful thinking on the part of those reporting it)… but who can tell until the real story comes out. There’s obviously something going on, but then you have to remember that there is a recession and it would be unreasonable to expect someone to keep advertising the way Red used to.
EDIT 28/1/2010: Latest rumour is that Red has warned its staff of redundancies and closure of certain regional offices. This is only a rumour, but like the two alternatives above I’d say the scales are slightly tilted in favour of this story having some truth about it.
EDIT 18/2/2010: For those too lazy to check for the latest news as a result of not Googling for a more relevant result, there is an updated story confirming Red HAS gone bust.
EDIT 21/02/2010: But within days of handing over to administration, it seems Red has been saved by private equity firm Kelso Place.