Terms and Conditions
Customer satisfaction is LIDT’s number one priority. We always want to provide an exceptional service; helping all our customers to learn to drive as quickly as possible. To do this, we’ve built a reliable network of experienced and trustworthy Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA ) Approved driving instructors (ADI) who provide high-quality, individually focused tuition. By booking a driving course through LIDT, you are indicating that you have read and understood the terms and conditions and that you agree to be bound by them.
LIDT acts as your agent to connect you to an ADI for your lessons. When you make a booking with LIDT, you’re entering into a separate agreement for the lessons which is solely between yourself and the DVSA ADI who is self-employed and independent from LIDT.
* ‘you’ means the person named on the booking form as the pupil.
* ‘we’ ‘us’ means The self-employed Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Approved driving instructor (ADI).
* The driving agency ‘LIDT’ means the driving agent administering the provision of the driving course, booking the tests and allocating you to a self-employed subcontractor who is a Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Approved driving instructor (ADI).
* ‘the instructor’ means a Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Approved driving instructor (ADI) acting on his/her own or on behalf of a driving agency when providing the course.
* LIDT is only mentioned in these Terms & Conditions where it acts as your agent in connecting you with an ADI and managing your theory and/or practical test(s).
* In these Terms and Conditions, any use of the phrase “working days” refers to days other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday.
The course fees are as listed on the LIDT website, and include:
- LIDT administration fee, which covers connecting you to the ADI; booking your theory and/or practical driving test; managing your test bookings; and providing service throughout your course.
- The tuition fee for the lessons from the ADI.
- Driving test car rental charge.
- The DVSA driving test fee.
- The fees by default do not include the costs of a theory test.
- As the practical driving test and theory test require you to apply your own skill and knowledge, LIDT/ADI does not and cannot guarantee that you will pass your practical/theory test.
- A ‘successful booking’ is when we allocate an ADI to you and both agree on a schedule for the driving course.
- All courses are booked and based on average learning capabilities from past experience and are a rough guide only. No guarantees can be implied by any ADI.
- You should be prepared for extra tuition if it is felt that it is required before you are allowed to safely attend the driving test.
Payment
- You will be required to make an initial deposit payment to LIDT when you make your booking. The deposit payment is non-refundable and is only fully refundable if:
- LIDT is unable to allocate an ADI within reasonable time for your lessons to be completed before your practical test date.
- We will retain the deposit to cover costs of work completed if you request to cancel your course after your theory test or practical test has been confirmed.
- If any driving lessons have been arranged, we may retain up to 100% of your course fees.
- ADI will contact you to take the remaining amount of the fees due. The full payment of the fees becomes due within 7 days of your ADI being allocated.
- If payment isn’t made and reminders are ignored, your course will be placed on hold, deposit will be non-refundable, and both your test and lessons will be cancelled/postponed.
- Up to 100% of the tuition fee is non-refundable if a suitable ADI has been allocated and a driving schedule has been agreed.
- Deposit payment for the course is to be made in advance to LIDT who accepts the payment on your behalf.
- Final payment must be made to your allocated ADI in cash or via BACS.
- Deposit including Final payment made by you covers the tuition fee, the administration fee, and the cost of one practical driving test including fast tracking.
- Any refund issued will be made back to the card from which the original payment was made. Refunds can take up to 10 working days from the day they are processed to show in the receiving account.
- Any unused hours from your lessons package booked via LIDT are non-refundable & non-transferable. Unused lessons can be used for additional tuition (e.g. motorway driving lessons), at the discretion of your ADI.
Driving Lessons
- In making this booking, you confirm that you hold a valid UK provisional driving licence. You must present your licence to your ADI at the start of your first lesson and to your examiner at the start of your driving test. Failure to do so will result in the lesson and/or test being cancelled without a refund.
- You have six months after booking the course to start your lessons, unless agreed otherwise between you and LIDT. If an agreement is not made and your driving lessons have not started within this six-month period, your deposit and final payment will be non-refundable.
- Any arrangements for the driving lessons, including the start time and start location, shall be agreed between you and the ADI directly.
- It is your responsibility to be on time for your lessons. As the ADI may have other lessons to deliver, the lessons will not be extended to compensate for you arriving late.
- ADI will be entitled to keep the full tuition fee of any missed lesson if you do not turn up for a lesson that's been agreed in advance.
- Any lessons booked in your name cannot be transferred or sold to a third party.
- You must have reasonable availability for lessons on a weekly basis.
- You make us aware before booking of any health issues either mental or physical which may affect your ability to perform as expected on an intensive driving course.
- You agree on the full course hours and make a note of the hours that have been agreed with the ADI on the initial phone call. If these are not satisfactory, please contact LIDT at this point so that we can arrange an alternative ADI. If LIDT is notified once the course has begun that you cannot do certain times and dates, or the ADI cannot complete the course with you in a certain time scale, then we are powerless to try to move the course to another ADI.
- You agree to book time off work only once the hours have been agreed in full with ADI who will call you and confirm a detailed lesson schedule.
- We advise that you book your lessons in with ADI early to avoid disappointment, if you leave booking your lessons late or at the last minute as there may not be enough time/hours/availability to book your course in as the ADI’s diaries get booked up very quickly.
- If you book additional hours with ADI and then cancel or fail to show, then these lessons will be charged and payable to the ADI at the standard hourly rate.
Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA ) Theory/Practical Driving Tests
- LIDT will aim to book a practical driving test that meets your reasonable requirements. The backlog associated with COVID may cause delays to this.
- The time for the practical driving test is included in the overall time of the course. Depending on your location, up to 4 hours of your course may be reserved for the driving test date.
- You cannot book under the assumption that LIDT will find a weekend or evening practical driving test. You must be available to take a practical driving test between 07:00 and 16:30 on a weekday.
- If LIDT secures a weekend or evening practical driving test for you an additional charge will apply.
- The ADI may refuse to allow you to take a practical driving test in the ADI’s car at the end of your course if the ADI reasonably determines your driving does not meet the necessary standard to take a practical driving test on the grounds that it would be a risk to the health and safety of pedestrians and other motorists or there is a risk of damage to the ADI’s property and livelihood.
- You must bring your UK driving licence with you to your theory/practical test (if you have an old style paper licence, you must bring it along with a valid passport).
- Drivers must be able to read (with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) a car number plate made after 1 September 2001 from 20 metres.
- Your test will be cancelled/no refund will be issued and you'll have to pay again if you don't bring your provisional licence, you arrive late or you fail to read the number plate from 20 metres.
- The DVSA may choose to make changes to test appointments due to the examiner being unavailable, or bad weather. The candidate is responsible to check for emails sent by the DVSA regarding a change to their test. The candidate must inform LIDT immediately should the DVSA change their test.
Cancellation or Rearrangement of lessons/course/test
- If you wish to cancel a driving lesson a minimum of 48 hours prior notice should be given. Cancellations made by you must be made directly between you and your ADI.
- A minimum of 10 working days or 2 weeks notice before test appointment must be given in writing to LIDT and your allocated ADI if you decide to reschedule your driving course and practical test.
- If your course is on hold, or needs to be rearranged for any reason, LIDT reserve the right to increase your course fees in line with current course prices.
- Failure to give LIDT/ ADI the correct cancellation notice will result in you forfeiting the course/test/lesson fees.
Cancellation or Rearrangement of Tests
- Practical and Theory driving tests may be changed or cancelled provided the candidate notifies LIDT at least 10 full working days prior to the test appointment date. If a 10 working days notice is not given to LIDT, you will be required to pay the standard DVSA booking fee for a practical driving test or the booking fee for a theory test, as well as the full administration fee for the fast-tracking service.
- If you ask LIDT to change your theory or practical test appointment, a further administration fee will be payable before we can start to make the requested changes.
Postponement and Expiry of Course
- If you instruct LIDT to place your course on hold, LIDT will cease all work relating to your course until you instruct LIDT to resume.
- If LIDT has made multiple attempts to contact you and it has been 14 days or more since LIDT has had any contact from you, your course will be placed on hold.
- If a course has been on hold for more than 6 months, the booking will expire and all fees will be non-refundable, unless agreed otherwise.
Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA ) Approved driving instructor (ADI)
- The ADI may refuse to proceed with a driving lesson if you use abusive language or threatening behaviour, or if you fail to act on any reasonable request made by the ADI. The ADI may also refuse to proceed if they believe you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs during the lesson.
- You will not be entitled to change your ADI once your lessons have started, except if in LIDT’s opinion there are exceptional circumstances (for example, inappropriate behaviour) and where LIDT is able to recover the remaining tuition fees from the ADI.
- LIDT does not guarantee to satisfy your preference regarding your ADI’s; gender; car make; car model; or car fuel type.
- ADI’s are self employed business men and women. A cancellation of the course leaves your allocated ADI without any income for that week once we have already reserved them for you as requested on booking. Courses may be rescheduled for a later date that you can attend at the ADI’s discretion.
- LIDT acts solely as a booking and administrative agent for ADI’s, who teach intensive and semi-intensive driving courses. This means that we do not provide any driving courses ourselves and we undertake all our activities on behalf of the individual ADI’s. We are paid on commission off the ADI’s for successful bookings.
- The contract for the intensive driving course is between you and the ADI. Any disputes or claims should therefore be taken up with the ADI firstly and not with LIDT. We cannot be held liable for any compensation claim from you, nor can we be held responsible for any traffic violation on the part of the pupil or the ADI.
- LIDT and your ADI cannot be held liable for any losses resulting in course cancellation or test cancellation due to any of the following reasons – driving course or driving test cancellation due to bad weather, for example snow or ice, examiner illness, examiner strike. Where possible your ADI will arrange another date to finish the course off in the event of any of the above scenarios.
- The car provided by the instructor will be comprehensively insured with a reputable insurer. You can request to see insurance documentation from ADI at any time. LIDT cannot be held responsible for any insurance related claims. Any disputes are the responsibility of the ADI.
- LIDT does not employ any ADI, we are not responsible for (and make no representations, warranties or guarantees as to) the behaviour, acts or omissions of any ADI you engage through LIDT or the quality of the services they provide.
- All ADI’s adhere to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency industry code of practice.
- Open the link below to view the code of practice. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/driving-instructor-code-of-practice
- LIDT does not have any control over ADI diaries, LIDT makes no guarantee that any ADI will be available on any specific date.
- ADI’s are self employed registered with HM Revenue and Customs. ADI’s are responsible for paying their Income tax and national insurance contributions.
Limitation of Liability - This section states LIDT responsibilities to you as our customer and what we can, or can’t be held liable for. LIDT does not exclude or limit its liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. Neither LIDT nor the ADI shall be liable to you for any loss or damage where, and to the extent that:
- There is no breach of a legal duty owed to you.
- The loss/damage isn’t a reasonably foreseeable result of a breach of legal duty.
- Any loss or damage results from any breach, action or omission by you.
- Any loss or damage results from circumstances or matters outside of the reasonable control of LIDT, the ADI or you.
- You are taking the driving tuition as a private consumer, not in connection with business. Consequently, LIDT shall not be liable to you for any losses connected with business in any way; including loss of profit, loss of business, or loss of business opportunity.
- LIDT isn't a party to the contract between you and the ADI for the driving tuition itself.
- LIDT will assess on a case-by-case basis, any missed/cancelled lessons or tests due to the ADI being ill, vehicle breakdowns or any other circumstance outside of LIDT or the ADI’s control.
- LIDT will not be responsible for tests moved or cancelled by the DVSA. If the DVSA does move or cancel your test, you and LIDT will be notified by the DVSA.
- You agree to inform LIDT of any issues you experience regarding your course in a timely manner. Any issues that occur prior to the final day of your course which are only brought to LIDT’s attention after your course has been completed will not be considered by LIDT.
- LIDT will not accept any liability for damages caused by you to the ADI’s training vehicle. You will be liable to cover the cost of repairing any damage caused by your negligence to the ADI’s training vehicle’s alloy wheels.
Use of Personal Data - Any personal data provided to LIDT by you will be held and processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the Data Protection Act 2018. Your data will be used as follows:
- To arrange and manage theory and practical driving tests.
- To arrange for an ADI to contact you regarding lessons.
- To process your payment for the tuition fees and the test fees.
- To contact you as may be necessary concerning your tuition.
- To contact you with your consent regarding marketing communications (alerts, promotional material, newsletters, etc.).
- You accept our appointment as your agent, You authorise LIDT to act as your full legal/ exclusive representative as far as the DVSA and DVLA are concerned.
- You give LIDT exclusive authority to share your driving licence details with the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and Approved driving instructor (ADI) who will book your driving test on their DVSA online business test booking portal.
- You authorise LIDT or your ADI to book, cancel, swap, reschedule, reallocate, pay for theory and practical test appointments on your behalf.
- If you are to fail the theory/practical test than LIDT will aim to automatically search and book another fast track test appointment for you. Payment will be due only if you agree to attend the test appointment.
- To opt out of this fast track test booking service, you MUST notify LIDT by emailing us at INFO@LIDT.CO.UK. By doing so, your personal data will be deleted from our booking system and no theory/practical test will be booked using your licence number.
- Any unpaid fees for theory/practical test appointments booked through LIDT will be cancelled without further notice.
- LIDT will only share your personal data with third parties where the law either requires or allows LIDT to do so.
- To manage your test booking, LIDT and our ADI’s will log in to the DVSA online business service (OBS) portal using your details as provided by you on your booking form. LIDT will alter the contact email address to be that of LIDT, so that LIDT receives notifications from the DVSA. You consent to LIDT doing this to manage your test booking(s). Your email address will be used once a practical test has been agreed and booked for you.
Behaviour
- LIDT has a zero-tolerance policy regarding abuse, harassment or violence, whether physical or verbal, towards its staff members or ADI and reserves the right to cancel your booking in the event. Your deposit will be non-refundable and upto 100% of the remainder of the fees may also be non-refundable to cover costs already incurred by LIDT or your ADI.
These Terms and Conditions are governed by English law.
Complaints procedure
- If you believe that your ADI is not providing a satisfactory service, please contact LIDT immediately before your course ends.
- If you have completed your driving course and believe that your ADI did not provide you with a satisfactory service, please contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau for guidance.
- Should you wish to make a complaint, please write an email to your ADI and us at info@lidt.co.uk with the details of your complaint setting out clearly the reasons for your grievance(s) together with dates, names of any staff members you dealt with and enclosing/attaching any supporting evidence.
- Your ADI is required to acknowledge your complaint in writing within 3 working days.
- Your ADI will review your complaint and provide you with a formal reply within 10 working days.
- You can contact the ADI Registrar by emailing instructorconduct@dvsa.gov.uk if you are unhappy with the ADI’s reply.
- Please contact https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money if you would like to make a claim for compensation or to recover all or some of the course fee you paid to your ADI.