Acclaim Driving

Acclaim Driving are a joke. They booked a course of lessons for my wife. Theere was supposed to be one lesson every few days for 2 weeks. 5 lessons of 2 hours each. We waited a month for these dates but it all seemed very professional and friendly. The driver who turned up is self employed. He knew nothing of the dates my wife had booked and told her, after the lesson had started that he was unable to do any of them except that one. He could do one in 2 weeks and another one a month after that. After the lesson we tried to contact them. My wife was furious and wanted to demand a full refund straight away. I said to calm down and we wrote an email asking what they could do. They got back to us and offered some more dates in a months time. We said no thanks and after a bit of backwards and forwards we eventually we were promised a full refund. I didn't think to get that in writing as they offered it quite readily. I even asked if it would be a full refund and after putting me on hold the lady said "yes, a full refund. We won't charge you for the lesson you had." I replied that that seemed fair as we would not have had that lesson if we had been told before hand that none of the proceeding dates would be met. A week later my wife checked her bank account and only some of the money had been refunded. We called them up and a lady called Sue said, yes, we have sent the money back. I said that we had been promised a full refund. She then said that they would never do that and that anyway, they were doing us a favour not to charge us a cancellation fee. Also she said that the driver did not work for Acclaim but was a self employed driving instructor. I said that we did not book with him but with Acclaim. The phone was then handed to Steven Turnbull. Very quickly he began using legal terms such as 'vicarious liability' and saying we should have read the small print and that any contract we had was with the self employed driver and not with Acclaim. He refused to give us the full refund as he said that he could not have known about the problem before it happened. Why are they making bookings which their 'self employed driving instructors' cannot do? Our main problem is that we booked with Acclaim for an intensive 5 lessons. We did receive one but would not have done so if we had been told that instead of finishing all 10 hours in a 2 week period, we would instead get one lesson, then another 2 weeks after that, then another a month after that and then would have to see how it goes to get any more. These people are a joke. Give them a wide berth.

I have passed my test so this is not sour grapes, just an honest opinion. All I can say is avoid this company - they have no interest in the person and my instructor, peter Granger, was, in my opinion, totally unscrupulous and without integrity. My advice is to go for an independent instructor.

This company is awful. I paid for the 10 hour bundle but did 7 hours or less. The instructor I got put with arrived 10 minutes late for every lesson and was very aggressive and unhelpful every time I made a mistake. On one instance I asked him if I was able to reschedule a lesson, I was told it would be fine and I wouldn't get charged, 3 days later £40 of credit is gone from my account. I tried to appeal to acclaim even presenting evidence (a screenshot of the texts saying I won't be charged) and was told I would not be able to get my money back. My final lesson with my instructor I hit the curb with his car trying to park and he becomes aggressive again by the end of the ordeal I was told "if I wasn't your instructor I would have put hands on you by now". The lesson ended earlier than the 2 hour session promised (and charged). when I tried appealing for a refund I was told its not possible as the instructor reported the lesson ended due to unsafe driving conditions inside the car. Overall I am very upset with my experience, and I would not recommend this company to any new or inexperienced drivers.

We used acclaim driving for our daughter and had Andrew Newton. He was a very nice man and always punctual however that is as far as I can say with the pros. As far as what he taught my daughter skill wise in 29 hours worth of lessons it was a complete and utter waste of money. They went around the same housing estate every week didn't even go on the test routes or cover all the maneuvers now after this many hours she should have been doing this. We hired another instructor to assess her to see what was the case and he took her out on the test route and said she was capable but just needed to polish up all the loose ends. To sum up acclaim driving and Andrew Newton are a rip off. You pay a fortune and don't get a good service. And when you try to speak to sue in customer service who deals with complaints she is also useless. My advise is go with someone who is a individual not a big company because they don't care. They are only after your money. This was obvious as all they were trying to do with my daughter was make her have more lessons than she actually needed. Avoid this company at all costs!!!!!!

Had an amazing time learning to drive with Paula in Leicester, couldn't have asked for a better instructor! I was super nervous when I started learning but she was very patient and helped me get through it. I'd recommend her 100%!!

My time at Acclaim Driving was amazing, my instructor Tony was a brilliant instructor to have, totally recommend for new learners to take lessons from Acclaim Driving

Excellent service and a brilliant instructor - Adrian McKinlay was truly superb and got me through 1st time - can't thank him enough for his patience and support. I would not hesitate to recommend Adrian or Acclaim to anyone thinking of learning.

I had my intensive course with Adam Mabbott and he really helped me to be confident with driving again after having 4 years off from lessons and made the intensive week of driving an enjoyable experience and even better I passed my test! Would definitely recommend him as an instructor

I recently passed my driving test after training with Paul Chopra. Paul is a genuinely great guy, he's patient and makes you feel safe, and really knows his stuff. He will challenge you to get the best out of you, but also has a brilliant sense of humour. He dealt with my anxiety brilliantly, and helped me control it enough to pass with only 3 minors. The acclaim admin team over the phone are very helpful and make things clear and simple. I would recommend acclaim, and especially Paul, to anyone looking to learn to be a safe and confident driver.

Acclaim driving and in particular Abdul Hemed were brilliant, helping me to pass my test first time with just 3 minors after just 8 hours of tuition, excellent company would highly recommend.

I had Stephen Whinnery as my instructor and he was brilliant. Patient and helpful throughout the lessons. Wouldn't have passed without his guidance. He always had time particularly the week of the test making sure I was prepared and confident. Couldn't recommend him enough thanks for all the help.

I didn't give my instructor, Sam, much time at all to get me up to speed as I had already booked my test when I contacted him. However he took it all amazingly and personalised the lessons for what I needed and managed to fit me in on almost every free day that I had, making it a much easier process. He was patient and thorough and I am so happy with how my lessons and test went. Thank you, Sam.

I managed to pass first time with the help of acclaimed and my instructor mayur thanks :)

My Instructor (Tony Sykes) was very professional and great at what his job. I managed to pass my test first time with his help, from my first lesson I knew he was very competent at teaching learner drivers. The Driving school (Acclaim) were very helpful with me booking my lesson and test.

However the process was expensive, Although I did take a lot of lessons and took me 10 months to get ready for my test, I have spent a small fortune on the lessons, especially the £75, 1 hour, pre- test lesson.

I was pleased with the driving school and very happy with the lessons with my instructor. I just think it could've been cheaper.

I had booked two 4 hour lessons with Matt Ollier in Derby.
The first lesson went OK, he was fifteen minute late though, and no extra time was given to make up the full lesson time at the end though.
We didn't really do much on the first lesson, just driving round, he told me I would be ready for my test around Christmas which is why I booked a second lesson with him.

The second lesson however Matt was fifteen minutes late and arrived at 9.15 and lesson should of started at 9am, and I was back at 10.50!
I didn't realise until I got back into my house and looked at my phone how much time this man had cheated me!
All we did was drive round the rest route and park up for fifteen minutes and than was back home!
Didn't do any maneuvers, I have trouble with roundabouts, with parking and reversing none of these was attempted and somehow now im practising a test route?
And he even asked me when I wanted to pass and when I wanted to book test as if he had forgotten the last lesson, very strange.

I'm sorry when I'm paying £54 which is a lot of money for a lesson, I don't expect to have an hour and a half when it should be two hours.
I don't really think he particularly enjoys his job, no real enthusiasm or encouragement.
What a waste of money!

Ricky is a fantastic instructor. He pushes you from the start, covering the whole syllabus in the first few lessons then recapping everything from there. He gives you simple rules to follow that work in various scenarios including which lane to take at junctions and how to prepare yourself to stop.

Tony Sykes was a great driving instructor helping me pass on my first test. He was patient, calm and made me feel comfortable to push my self out of my comfort zone. He enabled me to drive once passed on my own in confidence remembering everything he taught me during the lessons. Would definitely recommend Tony to all pupils.

Carl was a fantastic teacher, building up my confidence with his relaxed attitude and making me feel like a safe driver.

My daughter had taken a few driving lessons with her dad but had not tackled major roundabouts, manoeuvring etc. After her first lesson with Acclaim the instructor told her that she was a star pupil and to book her test for ASAP. From day one my daughter was driving into the centre of Leicester and, when she became confused about lane control, the instructor shouted at her. A couple of times the instructor grabbed the wheel from her. At no time did the instructor tell my daughter anything at all about the car she was driving.

After the first lesson the instructor spent half her time looking at her phone and texting instead of watching my daughter. On her third lesson the instructor received a phone call and told the person on the other end that she would be there shortly. My daughter was diverted to a house, where they picked up a toddler, who was then strapped into the back seat for the remainder of the lesson; this was not a responsibility that my daughter was at all comfortable with. The instructor also stopped off to buy tea and samosas and encouraged my daughter to eat at the wheel (whilst driving), when my daughter said she shouldn’t do this the instructor told her that if it was illegal to eat at the wheel then she’d know about it. On one occasion they were driving in a busy Costco car park at 10mph and the instructor was impatiently telling her to “Go on” and “Speed up” even though there was a large van parked on a corner and visibility was bad. Another time saw them driving down a busy street with cars parked on either side and my daughter was told to put her foot down because they’d be in a mess if anything came the other way.

Knowing that the practical test involves show me/tell me questions, my daughter printed off the list of types of things expected, and took it with her to her driving lesson so she could go over it with the instructor (this was about 10 days before her test date). When my daughter tried to go through it, the instructor became impatient and said, “You do know they only ask you one of these questions, don’t you?” What was my daughter meant to do, guess which question it would be and concentrate on that? The lesson deteriorated and my daughter started to panic. After being told off for her lane control on a busy roundabout, she pulled up at the first safe place and said she’d had enough. I had to drive the fifteen miles to pick her up from where she’d got out of the car. This was 45 minutes into a two hour lesson. We never heard from the instructor or Acclaim again. The woman didn’t even have the decency to text to see if she’d managed to get home safely!

Was very happy with my instructor Roxanna who helped me gain confidence on the road and made me feel very comfortable. Had constant feedback and never had an issue with getting a lesson to fit my schedule. A natural teacher who got me from not having any knowledge at all to having the ability to actually drive. I was able to pass my test because of her!
Highly recommend!