Traditionally, driving instructors have not been noted for their intellectual prowess. But nowadays, you can add courtesy and basic human decency to the list of things they’re not very good at. Intelligence is still right at the top, though.
The other day I was with a pupil and we’d stopped in a convenient place for her to practice the Turn In The Road exercise. We’d been there for about a minute when another learner car stops just in front of us (a BSM car), and another pulls up behind. So we can’t do our manoeuvre until they’ve finished.
A couple of days later in a different area I was with another pupil and we stopped to do the Corner Left Reverse exercise. We’d reversed around it (not particularly well – the pupil is new to it) and when we drove back round to try again there was a learner car there trying to use the same corner. I was annoyed this time and flashed my lights – he drove off.
A couple of weeks ago a pupil had just reversed around a corner. We were going to drive off anyway after having done it correctly, but I was annoyed to see when we went back round that corner another learner was waiting to use it. I made it clear to the instructor as we passed that I wasn’t impressed.
Then tonight I was with a new pupil. She’s never done Turn In The Road before, so I stopped in a quiet place – this is at 8.15pm in a cul-de-sac, so it was quiet – and did the briefing. I noticed a little further behind us (beyond a side road junction) a car had stopped but seeing as it was stationary we went ahead, with me controlling the pedals so the pupil could work out where the kerb was. As soon as we turned round, and I’d reversed us back into a good position to try again, this idiot… no, ‘idiot’ isn’t good enough… this complete pillock from Cloud City Driving School pulled forward, blocked us in, and then proceeded to do the manoeuvre himself. It took him ages because his pupil wasn’t very good at it (not the pupil’s fault – it was his instructor behaving like a complete arse).
What really pisses me off is that if I see another learner car anywhere near where I want to do a manoeuvre then I get my pupil to drive on and we find somewhere else. If nothing else, it keeps the locals happy (they hate learners with a vengeance) by not having queues of learners in their streets. But it is common decency on the part of the instructor to think of others.
I reckon this one will be a running theme.