Shocking confessions of a driving instructor...
Sexism, attacks and cursing just some of learner complaints
A DRIVING instructor told a woman getting lessons she was “drop-dead gorgeous”, asked if she was single, and said “Who’s your daddy” 15 times, a complaint received by the RSA said.
Another Approved Driving Instructor who was in his 60s told a 22-year-old student that “girls on their period never do well in their driving test” because it affects their coordination and they “get flustered”.
They were among 128 complaints made by learner drivers about ADIS last year, which was nearly seven times as many as the RSA received in 2021, records released under freedom of information laws show.
Last August, a complainant claimed an ADI had told her to imagine that she had two children in the back seat and, if she didn’t drive carefully, she would cause an accident and kill them.
He also made racist comments about her country of origin and her address, according to the complaint, saying: “The place you live in is very rough but I assume it isn’t as rough as the country you are from.”
BEATING
Another learner driver reported that his ADI had been physically beating him, striking him on the thigh and the back of his head.
He told the RSA that he had been “too scared” to react and had completed around 30 lessons with this instructor.
After completing a lesson and returning to a car park, one complainant was aggrieved that the ADI got out of the vehicle and told his mother that the student had driven “worse than s***e”.
A female driver reported her instructor to the RSA for putting his hand on her knee to give her a “massage”. He also made comments about her body and “told her about his sexual experience”, she alleged in the complaint.
Another complainant described one ADI’S lessons as “an absolute joke” due to time-wasting.
The instructor left him waiting 20 minutes, made him pull into a shop, and stopped the lesson for about 15 minutes “to watch a couple having an argument”.
ADIS must pass a series of tests and be Garda vetted before receiving accreditation from the RSA. The agency did respond to a request for data in relation to disciplinary processes arising from complaints.