Terms And Conditions
Terms And Conditions
ABOUT US
Mercury Driving School engages directly with individual franchised driving instructors, who are self-employed and act in their capacity as franchisees of Mercury Driving School under the terms of a franchise agreement between Mercury Driving School and the instructor. The contract for driving tuition is solely between you and your instructor in line with these terms and conditions..
LEARNER DRIVER – TERMS AND CONDITIONS
In order to have driving lessons you must:
• Be aged 17 or older (16 or over if disabled).
• Hold a driving licence that is valid for the UK (provisional, full or an appropriate foreign licence).
It is your responsibility to provide your instructor with proof that you have a valid licence to drive before the commencement of your first driving lesson. If you fail to provide this proof, your instructor is entitled to refuse to conduct the driving lesson but may still charge you for such driving lesson.
• You must inform your instructor if there is any reason why you cannot drive safely or legally. This includes the loss of your valid driving licence and also includes, but is not limited to, being under the influence of drink or drugs, including prescribed medication that may affect your ability to drive.
• Please ensure that you are medically fit to drive. If you have any medical condition and you are not sure if your ability to drive is affected, please speak with your doctor and the DVLA to report any notifiable medical condition.
• You must be able to read a number plate from a distance of 20.5 metres.
• Your instructor reserves the right to refuse to take you to your driving test if: you haven't told them when your driving test is and therefore; they are unavailable, if you haven't moved your driving test date when they advised you to or if they believe you are not up to test standard and therefore unsafe to be driving their tuition car by yourself on test. Your instructor will discuss this within plenty of time and discuss the options available to you.
• We offer free access to driving test success whom are a third party company that we use in order to further enhance your learning.
• When your instructor arrives for your lesson, they will wait for you by the car at your agreed location. If you have not arrived or contacted them within 15 minutes, your lesson will be cancelled and charged as above.
• If you are late for your lesson, your lesson time will be reduced as your instructor cannot be late for their next lesson. You will still be charged the full price of the lesson, as this is considered 'cancelling' part of your lesson with less than 48 hours notice.
• If your instructor is late to your lesson through no fault of their own, you will still receive the full lesson time either that day or it can be added to another lesson by mutual agreement.
• If your instructor has to cancel your lesson through no fault of their own, for circumstances such as mechanical breakdown of the tuition car, bad weather which may affect your ability to learn safely, heavy traffic, or the previous pupil’s lesson or driving test has overrun for unavoidable reasons, and it means they cannot arrive at your lesson within good time, they will rearrange your lesson for the next available and mutually convenient, date and time.
• If your instructor feels your behaviour or attitude whilst driving is threatening, dangerous, or compromises safety, they reserve the right to cancel the lesson in progress and any future lessons.
PAYING FOR LESSONS
You can pay for driving lessons in advance via one of the following methods:
• Bank transfer to our business account – Name: Barry Davis, Account number: 25105556, Sort code: 23-69-72.
• Through the Total Drive app (this will incur a 2.5% admin fee per transaction).
• Gift voucher purchased from Mercury Driving School.
• Cash can sometimes be accepted. Please speak to you instructor directly if you wish to pay for your lessons using cash (not always possible).
• Your hourly lesson rate & block booking rate is as agreed at the time of booking.
Lessons must be paid for no later than 48 hours before your lesson time. Any payments not received within this time may result in your lesson being cancelled.
REFUND POLICY
Mercury Driving School offers a satisfaction guarantee. If you decide you no longer wish to have driving lessons with Mercury Driving School, we will refund any remaining funds to your bank account in line with the terms of your agreed package via bank transfer. We cannot issue a refund for any lessons already taken. If you are dissatisfied for any reason, please see the complaints section below.
Any funds paid directly to your instructor are not protected by this guarantee through Mercury and should be discussed with your instructor directly.
REDEEMING PREPAID LESSONS
You and your instructor are responsible for agreeing such matters as the timing, location and duration of individual driving lessons.
You must notify your instructor of any matters existing at any time that may affect your ability or entitlement to have driving lessons, for example, but not limited to, any lack, or loss, of a valid driving licence.
Your instructor cannot guarantee that they will be available each time you choose to request a driving lesson. It is your responsibility to agree and confirm the timing of lessons with your instructor.
CANCELLATION POLICY
You must give at least 48 hours notice to your instructor if you wish to cancel or re-arrange a booked driving lesson. Failure to do so may result in your instructor charging you the full amount for that driving lesson.
TRANSFERRING PREPAID LESSONS
You cannot sell or transfer driving lessons which have been purchased in your name to any other person.
VOUCHERS – TERMS AND CONDITIONS
• Driving lessons are only available to those who hold a driving licence valid in the UK.
• Mercury Driving School does not guarantee that a specific instructor, vehicle or lesson time will be available.
• Keep the voucher in a safe place as it cannot be re-issued if lost or damaged.
• The voucher is valid for six months from the purchase date. This can be extended if there are exceptional circumstances, please contact Mercury Driving School directly to discuss.
• The voucher has no cash value.
• The voucher is non-refundable and not transferable.
INTRODUCTORY OFFER (where offered)
• An introductory offer is only available to new customers with Mercury Driving School and only one introductory offer is allowed per customer.
• Mercury Driving School reserves the right to remove or amend any introductory offers at any time.
• Details of our current offers can be found on our website.
BULK PACKAGES
• Prices are as agreed at the time of purchase and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.
• Saving stated is a representation of discount from the standard pay as you go rate.
• Any refunds given part way through a bulk package will result in the delivered hours being charged at the standard pay as you go rate at that time with the remainder being refunded to you.
INSTALMENT PLAN
• Prices are as agreed at the time of purchase.
• This is not a finance agreement. This is an agreement by both parties allowing the customer to spread the cost of a discounted amount of hours over an agreed period of time.
• The monthly instalment should be paid the same date each month from the date your first payment is made.
• In the event of failure to pay any instalment without prior discussion it will be presumed that you wish to cancel this agreement and therefore will be processed as per our refund policy.
• Any refunds given part way through an instalment plan will result in the delivered hours being charged at the standard pay as you go rate at that time with the remainder being refunded to you or an invoice will be created if there is an outstanding balance from you.
• A deposit of £75 for the 40 hour plan is required with the first payment. This deposit can either be refunded once the term is complete or can be put towards further lessons/test lesson.
• Hours to be divided as no more than:
20 hour plan – 6 hours months one and two, 8 hours month three.
40 hour plan – 8 hours each month.
• Unused hours can be carried over to the next month or beyond the length of the term as long as they are used within 6 months of the final payment.
ACCIDENT AND LEGAL
• Your instructor will make every effort to avoid damage and accidents, and we do anticipate that accidents may happen as you are learning to drive, however if they believe you were driving in a dangerous manner or ignoring their instructions and actual damage is caused to the tuition car, you may be expected to contribute towards the repairs cost (ie. tyres).
• Your instructor will make every effort to avoid you breaking the law or committing any traffic offence – you are under their close supervision during every lesson and they may use controls such as speed limiters, and verbal or physical control such as giving verbal instruction, taking the steering wheel or using the dual control pedals where necessary to avoid dangerous situations or accidents. However, your instructor and Mercury Driving School cannot accept any responsibility of you breaking the law – this includes speeding, traffic offences, regulations, or laws that you could break whilst driving. Any fines or penalties are legally the sole responsibility of the driver. It is an offence on your instructor's part if they fail to give the driver’s details to the police when asked to provide information as to who was driving at the time of an offence.
• All of our instructors at Mercury Driving School have Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance.
USE OF PERSONAL DATA AND INFORMATION
In line with the GDPR regulations, by you taking driving lessons with Mercury Driving School you automatically consent and agree to us holding your personal information, such as:
*Name, address, contact information, and date of birth,
*Driving licence number,
*Records of driving progress,
*Medical conditions that affect your ability to drive,
*Driving test information,
*Pictures taken during driving lessons or upon passing your test (with your permission),
*Receipts of payments,
*Any other relevant information.
• We hold your information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR regulations.
• We hold your information for the purpose of being able to provide good quality driving lessons to you.
• Your instructor holds your information securely, which is either locked away securely, or secured on phones, tablets, or computers which are all password protected.
• Your information is stored on the Total Drive app which is kept secure. We use Total Drive to book your lessons, store your contact information, record lesson progress and information, provide updates, record payments etc.
• We can assure you that we do not pass your information on to anyone without your prior permission and agreement. If there is a need to share your information (such as changing driving instructors and sending your progress to them, booking tests on your behalf with the DVSA etc.), we will inform you first, explain who we are sharing the information with, why we are sharing the information, and ensure that you give us your consent and permission.
• Every instructor has dash cams which are always recording external footage for the protection of yourself, the instructor and the public. If your instructor wishes to use any recorded lesson footage for other uses (such as training aids), you will be asked to sign a form.
• You have the right to see any information we hold about you.
• You have the right to ask us to destroy any information we hold about you.
• Once you pass your driving test, or if you wish to discontinue lessons with us for any reason:
• Your account on Total Drive will be made inactive and kept inactive for 5 years before being permanently deleted.
• The reason we keep records for 5 years is in case you need any of that information again for any reason, and also for our tax and accounting purposes.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Our registration number is: C1025709.
COMPLAINTS
• We hope that you are happy with your driving lessons and instructor, however if you would like to raise a complaint, your first step would be to contact your driving instructor to see if you can resolve it between yourself and your instructor. All of our instructors inform Mercury Driving School of any complaints made immediately.
• Should you not feel able to talk to your instructor, or are not satisfied with the outcome, please contact Aoife Dowling at Mercury Driving School on 01256 320058 . Aoife will do her best to resolve the situation or can signpost you to the appropriate place if you are still not satisfied.
BREACH OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
We will always endeavour to communicate in the most appropriate manner however if we cannot make appropriate progress the following escalation policy may be enforced.
• In the first instance your instructor will provide you with a verbal warning and offer an explanation as to why this is being given.
• Further breaches following a verbal warning will result in a written warning outlining in detail the issues with regards to your conduct in line with our terms and conditions.
• Any breaches of our terms and conditions following a written warning will result in a termination of service notice in writing and a refund of remaining funds will be returned as per our refund policy minus any costs owed.
The above is a guide however depending on the circumstances it may be necessary to go straight to a written termination of our services, the reasons for this will be explained to you. We will not tolerate any abusive language or threatening behaviour aimed at anybody working with Mercury Driving School. Failure to comply may result in termination of our service and further action being taken if necessary.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will affect any statutory rights you may have as a consumer.