Pj’s Facebook- “And teach in a relaxed, calm manner at all times, specialising in putting at ease nervous pupils” Overall, I found him quite a strange person to learn from. I believe his way of teaching is very “old school” but he would spend every lesson having a go at me for things that don’t even matter on test day anymore. He wasn’t very patient with me at all, normal mistakes were often met with annoyance, and he made me feel stupid and constantly disappointed in myself. He also spent a lot of time talking about his health issues which I believe he is very paranoid about, constantly telling me I raise his blood pressure and it’s not good for him etc. He would regularly break into “Ali G” or “Borat” characters, which I found awkward rather than funny, and I often felt like I had to laugh along. At times he would shout at me, then act completely normal again, which was confusing. I have read on a previous review that pj denies shouting at anybody, I would disagree. He also ate energy tablet sweets throughout every lesson and would suck them really loudly, which was quite distracting, so if you’re sensitive to repetitive mouth noises or smells I’d keep that in mind. My experience wasn’t great, as it often felt like he was more focused on his pass rate statistics than on helping me progress at my own pace. He repeatedly told me I should already be test-ready, which added unnecessary pressure. At one point, he even suggested that I was making him look bad, which didn’t feel supportive or professional. My first lesson was mostly him boosting his own ego, talking about his achievements and showing newspaper pictures of himself. I had already booked a block, so I stuck with it, but I ended up dreading lessons and even considered quitting driving altogether on many occasions because I really believed it was me in the wrong. Since switching to a new instructor, I’ve improved massively and genuinely look forward to my lessons-which I didn’t think was possible to be honest. This isn’t personal to him at all, but if I had read something like this before, I wouldn’t have chosen PJ. Read Less

Great driving instructor. I've heard horror stories about driving instructors getting angry or shouting with repeated mistakes. PJ, however, has always been very calm and always explains what I did wrong and how to do it right. Never angry or frustrated, always calm and collected with his explanations being clear and concise. PJ has a very adaptive teaching style and even asked if I prefer to learn with explanation, demonstration, a run-in-commentary or all 3. We always focused on areas I had issues with such as roundabouts and PJ was even happy to drive out to a roundabout on the way to IKEA because I had driven there with my dad and had issues traversing this specific roundabout. PJ was also very understanding about my hybrid working schedule and was able to fit lessons in that suited my difficult office/home working rota. After my mock test, PJ estimated I'd be ready for my test around the middle of July. I kept checking the Testi app for cancellations around then and eventually got one for July 25th. We worked up to my test date and when it eventually came round, I passed, first try with only 1 minor. Thanks so much PJ, I really appreciate it. I can finally enjoy the fuel prices coupled with city parking prices :) Read Less

When I started lessons with Paul he was a great driving instructor, no complains couldn’t fault him, great price great teaching, very patient. Paul had to take some time off (about a month) due to personal reasons that I’m not going to detail for Paul’s privacy. During this time, rather than switching to a new instructor I decided to wait for him to return to lessons, but when Paul came back he was a different bloke. He was impatient, he’d berate me for making mistakes, and he seemed very anxious which in turn made me feel anxious. Paul did a couple of strange things that still don’t really sit right with me to this day. Rather than fetch me from my house Paul would order taxis to come pick me up, as he didn’t feel fit to drive. This was a red flag, a driving instructor who didn’t feel fit to drive... I probably should have stopped lessons then and there. But hey I was young, naive and I felt sorry for him, so I continued my lessons. The next strange thing he did was ask me whether I had any friends who could “go out” with his stepdaughter (might have been just his girlfriends daughter can’t remember if they were married). I awkwardly told Paul that my friends wouldn’t want too or were in relationships, but that I guess I could ask them, I then hastily tried to change the subject, because I was very uncomfortable. I got home that day to a call from my friend saying a girl was messaging him claiming that I’d set them up to go on a date. This was incredibly unprofessional, I’m still not sure how this even happened, but I’m guessing Paul went home and told his step daughter that I had a friend who was interested in her, which was completely untrue. After that event I almost stopped lessons, in hindsight I wish I did, but I persevered and test day came. I failed my first driving test miserably mostly due to nerves. Paul then grew really frustrated and yelled that it was his worst score ever, and that I’d had enough lessons that I should have passed (bare in mine this was my first attempt). That was the final straw and I stopped lessons with Paul and found a new instructor, with whom I passed my test with on my second attempt. Why have I taken this time to write what could be considered a blog post? Well I often see the amount of praise Paul gets for being a fantastic instructor, praise which is probably justified as I said before he was a great instructor till he had that time off. But I feel it wouldn’t be right of me not to get this off my chest and put it out there. And Paul if you’re reading this, it’s nothing personal mate, but you and your customers deserve to know how awful of an experience I had. Read Less