Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses

Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions apply to bookings made with Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses.

Please read them carefully before booking. They explain the respective responsibilities of Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses, your allocated driving instructor and you as the pupil.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions affects your statutory consumer rights.

1. Our Role and Agency Relationship

Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses (“we”, “us” or “the Company”) acts as a booking, administration, payment collection and course coordination agent for independent DVSA-registered driving instructors.

The driving tuition itself is supplied to the pupil by the allocated instructor as principal. The instructor is an independent service provider and is not an employee of Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses.

Our role includes locating and allocating suitable instructors, coordinating course arrangements, administering bookings, collecting and administering payments, facilitating communication and, where necessary, assisting with the reallocation or replacement of instructors.

The fact that Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses collects the course payment does not mean that all money received represents income belonging to Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses. A proportion of the course payment may represent tuition fees collected and administered on behalf of the independent instructor, with Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses retaining an agency fee or commission for the services it provides.

The amount or proportion allocated to an instructor may vary according to the course, instructor, location and arrangements applicable to the booking.

Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses is responsible for the booking, administration, payment handling, coordination and other services which it itself agrees to provide.

The independent instructor is responsible for the driving tuition they provide, including the professional delivery of lessons, their tuition vehicle, appropriate insurance, DVSA registration and their professional conduct while providing tuition.

Nothing in this agency arrangement excludes or restricts any statutory consumer rights or any responsibility which cannot lawfully be excluded.

2. Booking and Course Confirmation

After booking, you will receive confirmation by email.

Unless expressly confirmed otherwise, a booking confirmation confirms receipt of your booking but does not necessarily constitute confirmation of the final daily timetable or allocated instructor.

Course dates may remain provisional until instructor availability and the timetable have been confirmed.

You should therefore avoid making non-refundable travel, accommodation, annual leave or other arrangements until your course schedule has been confirmed.

Once an instructor and timetable have been agreed, the pupil and instructor should communicate directly regarding day-to-day lesson arrangements, while our administration team remains available to assist with course-related issues.

3. Course Hours and Delivery

A 5-Day Intensive Course consists of 20 hours of driving tuition in total.

A 7-Day Intensive Course consists of 28 hours of driving tuition in total, unless a different number of hours is expressly stated on the course purchased.

The descriptions “5-Day” and “7-Day” identify the course package and its intended intensive format. They do not guarantee that tuition will take place on exactly five or seven consecutive calendar days, or that the same number of hours will be delivered on each day.

The daily duration, start and finish times, number of training days and overall delivery period may vary according to instructor availability, pupil availability, driving test arrangements and other reasonable operational circumstances.

For example, a 20-hour 5-Day Intensive Course may ordinarily be delivered as approximately four hours per day over five days, but the 20 hours may be divided differently where reasonably necessary or agreed with the pupil.

The contractual tuition entitlement is therefore the total number of tuition hours purchased, rather than a guaranteed number of hours on any particular day, unless a particular timetable has expressly been agreed in writing.

4. Changes to Course Dates or Arrangements by Us

Although we will make reasonable efforts to deliver your course on the dates originally requested or confirmed, it may occasionally be necessary for Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses or your allocated instructor to change course dates, lesson times or other scheduling arrangements.

This may occur for reasonable operational reasons including instructor availability, illness, vehicle problems, instructor scheduling conflicts, changes in capacity, practical driving test arrangements, unforeseen circumstances or other issues affecting our ability to deliver the course as originally scheduled.

Where a change is necessary, we will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable and will make reasonable efforts to offer suitable alternative arrangements.

A reasonable change to course dates, lesson times or the distribution of tuition hours does not automatically give rise to a right to cancel the course or receive a refund where the purchased tuition can still reasonably be provided.

Where the original arrangements cannot reasonably be maintained, we may:

• move the course to alternative dates;
• alter the distribution of tuition hours;
• arrange tuition over a different number of days;
• allocate a replacement instructor; or
• use a combination of these arrangements to complete the purchased tuition.

Any replacement dates or arrangements will take account of instructor availability and may result in the course being completed later than originally anticipated.

Where a change causes a substantial delay or significant inconvenience, we will consider reasonable alternative arrangements. Where applicable consumer law provides the pupil with a right to a refund, price reduction or other remedy, those statutory rights will continue to apply.

If we have to postpone or materially rearrange a course more than once for reasons within our reasonable control, we will review the booking with the pupil and consider an appropriate alternative, including replacement tuition or any remedy required by applicable consumer law.

Changes resulting from circumstances outside our reasonable control will also be dealt with under the Force Majeure provisions of these Terms.

5. Pickup and Meeting Locations

We will normally arrange tuition to begin from the pickup location requested when you book and will make reasonable efforts to maintain that arrangement throughout your course.

Occasionally, for reasonable operational reasons including instructor location, scheduling, traffic, travel time, instructor changes or the allocation of a replacement instructor, it may be necessary to use a different meeting or pickup location.

Where this is necessary, we may ask you to meet your instructor at a reasonable alternative location within the general area of your requested pickup address.

We will make reasonable efforts to keep any alternative meeting point as close as reasonably practicable to your requested location and will notify you of any change as soon as reasonably possible.

A reasonable change of meeting or pickup location does not, by itself, constitute cancellation of the course or create an automatic entitlement to a refund.

When deciding whether an alternative location is reasonable, we will take account of the distance from the requested pickup location, accessibility, the pupil’s circumstances and the practical requirements of delivering the course.

Significant changes to the meeting location will only be made where reasonably necessary and will be discussed with the pupil wherever practicable.

6. Your Right to Cancel Within 14 Days

Where the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply, you will normally have 14 days from entering into the contract in which to cancel without giving a reason.

If you ask us to begin providing services during this period, including locating or allocating an instructor, arranging availability, scheduling tuition, administering your booking or arranging services connected with your course, you expressly request that performance begins during the cancellation period.

If you subsequently cancel during the 14-day period after requesting early performance, we may deduct an amount which is lawfully payable for services already supplied.

Where the service has been fully performed during the cancellation period following the necessary request and acknowledgement, your statutory cancellation right may end upon full performance.

Cancellation requests should be sent to admin@bristolandbathintensivecourses.com.

Nothing in this section affects any cancellation or other rights you may have under applicable consumer law.

7. Cancellation After the Statutory Cancellation Period

Once the statutory cancellation period has expired, cancellation will be dealt with under these Terms and our Refund Policy.

Where a pupil cancels or abandons a booking, any refund due will take account of matters including tuition already delivered, services already provided, third-party fees already incurred, reasonable administration and booking costs, instructor costs or commitments already reasonably incurred, losses directly resulting from cancellation, and lessons missed or cancelled at short notice.

We will take account of costs or losses which we or the instructor are reasonably able to avoid or recover.

Cancellation at short notice may result in a substantially reduced refund where an instructor’s time has been reserved and the resulting loss cannot reasonably be recovered.

Where a pupil chooses not to continue after a course has commenced, this does not automatically entitle the pupil to a refund for every unused hour.

Any refund will be calculated in accordance with these Terms, our Refund Policy and applicable consumer law.

8. Pupil-Requested Date, Hour and Course Changes

Once course dates or tuition hours have been agreed, any request by the pupil to change them is subject to instructor availability.

We are not obliged to accept a change request.

Where we or the instructor agree, as an accommodation to the pupil, to move, defer, separate or hold back tuition which was otherwise available to be delivered, those deferred hours will become lesson credit.

Lesson credit is not normally exchangeable for a cash refund and remains available for future tuition subject to instructor availability. It may need to be delivered on different dates, over a different period or by a different instructor.

Once tuition has been moved, deferred or held back at the pupil’s request, the pupil cannot subsequently request a cash refund merely because suitable future dates are less convenient than the original course arrangements.

This does not remove any statutory remedy where tuition has not been provided because of a breach for which the pupil was not responsible.

9. Instructor Unavailability and Replacement Instructors

Where an allocated instructor becomes unavailable or is unable to start or complete a course, Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses must be given a reasonable opportunity to resolve the situation.

We may reschedule the tuition with the existing instructor, allocate a replacement instructor, transfer remaining hours to another suitable instructor, or use a combination of these options.

A replacement instructor may not have immediate availability. Consequently, completion of the course or outstanding tuition may be delayed.

A reasonable delay while we arrange replacement tuition does not, by itself, create an automatic entitlement to cancel the remaining course for an immediate refund.

Replacement tuition will be arranged within a reasonable period having regard to the circumstances, instructor availability, the amount of tuition remaining and the purpose for which the course was booked.

Where we are unable to provide the outstanding service within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience where required by applicable consumer law, statutory rights and remedies continue to apply.

10. Missed Lessons, Late Arrival and Early Finish

Tuition which a pupil misses, cancels at insufficient notice, arrives late for, or elects to finish early will normally be treated as used tuition where the instructor was available and prepared to provide the agreed lesson.

A pupil is not entitled to additional tuition merely because they arrived late or elected to finish a lesson early.

This does not apply where a lesson is shortened or cancelled because of the instructor or circumstances for which the pupil was not responsible. In those circumstances the outstanding tuition will normally be rearranged.

11. Passing the Practical Driving Test and Unused Hours

Once a pupil passes their practical driving test, the purpose of pre-test tuition has ordinarily been fulfilled.

Where tuition hours remain unused because of pupil-requested rescheduling, pupil availability, hours which the pupil asked to hold back, lessons cancelled or deferred by the pupil, or another arrangement made at the pupil’s request, those remaining hours will expire upon passing the practical driving test.

Those hours will not be exchangeable for cash or transferable to another person.

Where substantial hours remain solely because tuition was not provided for reasons for which the pupil was not responsible, we will consider the circumstances separately and statutory rights remain unaffected.

12. Course Payments and Payment to Independent Instructors

Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses may collect the overall course payment as agent as part of administering your booking.

The course payment may include amounts relating to our booking, administration and agency services and amounts allocated or payable to the independent instructor for driving tuition.

We may hold, administer, allocate and release the instructor’s portion of the payment on behalf of the instructor.

All or part of the instructor’s allocated tuition payment may be released before, during or following the course, including where payment is required to secure or confirm an instructor’s availability.

Where appropriate, we will notify you that funds are due to be released and provide a reasonable opportunity to raise concerns.

Following delivery of tuition, we may notify you that payment relating to that tuition is due to be released to the instructor. If no objection is received within the reasonable period stated in the notification, we may release the relevant funds.

Failure to object does not waive your statutory consumer rights or prevent you subsequently raising a matter which could not reasonably have been identified at the time.

Use of Course Payments

Course payments are not ring-fenced and may be used in the ordinary operation of the business before your course, including the allocation and payment of funds to instructors and other costs associated with arranging and delivering courses.

This does not affect any refund or other statutory right which may subsequently arise.

13. Private Arrangements With Instructors

Once an instructor has been allocated, pupils and instructors will normally communicate directly regarding day-to-day lesson arrangements.

If a pupil and instructor privately agree to move, defer or hold back tuition outside the original agreed course timetable, the pupil should notify our administration team so our records can be updated.

Where tuition is moved or held back at the pupil’s request, the outstanding tuition will ordinarily become lesson credit under Section 8.

Payments made directly by a pupil to an instructor for additional lessons or services outside the Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses booking are private arrangements between the pupil and instructor.

14. Deposits and Balance Payments

Courses may be purchased in full or, where offered, secured by a deposit.

Where a deposit is accepted, the outstanding balance is normally due no later than seven days before the confirmed course start unless otherwise agreed in writing.

We may suspend or cancel a course where the balance has not been received when due.

Where cancellation results from non-payment, any amount retained will be limited to amounts we are legally entitled to retain, including reasonable losses and costs resulting from cancellation.

Courses will not normally commence until the required balance has cleared.

15. Discounts, Credits and Goodwill Arrangements

From time to time we may agree a goodwill discount, credit or other discretionary arrangement.

Any specific conditions attached to such an arrangement will be explained when it is offered.

Where a discount or credit is expressly conditional upon completion of a particular course, test or other agreed requirement, that condition will form part of the arrangement.

A discount or goodwill condition will not be applied in a way which removes statutory consumer rights.

16. Instructor Type

Tuition may be provided by either a DVSA Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) or a DVSA-licensed Potential Driving Instructor (PDI).

PDIs are legally permitted by the DVSA to provide paid driving tuition while completing the final stage of their qualification.

If you have a particular preference regarding instructor type, please tell us before booking or allocation. We will try to accommodate preferences but cannot guarantee a particular instructor or instructor type unless expressly agreed.

No instructor or driving school can guarantee that a pupil will pass their driving test.

Additional tuition may be recommended and may incur additional charges.

17. Theory Tests and Theory Training

Where theory support or a theory test is included in the purchased product, this will be stated in the relevant course description.

Where applicable, we may arrange a theory test on the pupil’s behalf or provide assistance with the booking process.

Where access to our theory training platform is included, access will be provided in accordance with the relevant product terms.

18. Practical Driving Tests

Practical driving tests are normally booked by pupils directly through the DVSA booking system unless expressly stated otherwise.

If you already have a practical test booked, we will make reasonable efforts to structure your tuition around that date, but you must disclose the test date before your course timetable is agreed.

If you subsequently book, move or change a practical test, you must confirm the proposed date with your instructor.

Neither Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses nor an instructor can guarantee availability for a test date booked or changed without prior agreement.

DVSA cancellations, changes, waiting times and test-centre availability are outside our control.

19. Test-Day Vehicle and Instructor Time

Unless expressly included in the course purchased, use of an instructor’s vehicle and the instructor’s time for the practical driving test may be a separate service.

Any applicable test-day charge will be explained either on the product page, during booking or by the instructor, as appropriate.

The instructor remains responsible for determining whether they can safely and lawfully permit use of their vehicle for a practical test.

20. Vehicle and Instructor Substitution

We may substitute an instructor or tuition vehicle where reasonably necessary.

A replacement vehicle may be a different make or model but will be suitable for tuition and appropriately insured.

A change of instructor or vehicle does not itself create an automatic right to cancel where the contracted tuition can still reasonably be provided.

21. Pupil Responsibilities

The pupil must hold an appropriate valid driving licence, meet DVSA eyesight requirements, be legally entitled and medically fit to drive, attend lessons at the agreed time and location, behave appropriately towards instructors and staff, comply with reasonable safety instructions, and keep us and the instructor informed of relevant changes.

An instructor may refuse or stop tuition where they reasonably believe continuing would be unsafe or unlawful.

22. Complaints

If you experience a problem during your course, please raise it as soon as reasonably possible.

Where appropriate, concerns should initially be discussed with the instructor. If they cannot be resolved, please contact our administration team.

Early notification gives us the opportunity to investigate and, where appropriate, arrange replacement tuition or another solution while the course remains active.

A delay in reporting a concern may make investigation more difficult but does not automatically prevent a complaint from being considered.

Serious complaints regarding instructor conduct will be taken seriously and may result in further action concerning that instructor’s relationship with our business.

Nothing in this complaints procedure affects your statutory rights.

23. Refunds

Our Refund Policy forms part of these Terms and Conditions.

Where a refund is legally or contractually due, it will be calculated having regard to these Terms, the circumstances of the booking and applicable consumer law.

We may take account of tuition and services already provided, amounts paid or committed to instructors or third parties, the reason the course ended, pupil-requested deferrals, reasonable replacement tuition offered, reasonable losses arising from cancellation and costs which can reasonably be recovered or avoided.

We will not deduct the same loss twice.

Any statutory refund rights and statutory time limits applicable to a refund take precedence over a conflicting provision in our Refund Policy.

24. Force Majeure and Events Outside Our Control

Neither we nor an instructor will be responsible for a failure or delay caused by events genuinely outside reasonable control, including severe weather, DVSA test-centre closures, industrial action, significant transport disruption, serious illness or other comparable events.

Where such an event affects tuition, we will make reasonable efforts to rearrange the affected service.

This section does not remove any statutory right or remedy which cannot legally be excluded.

25. Responsibility and Liability

The independent instructor supplies the driving tuition as principal. Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses acts as agent in arranging and administering that tuition.

Our involvement in collecting payments, coordinating courses, communicating with pupils and instructors or assisting with replacement instructors does not of itself change the independent instructor’s responsibility for tuition they personally provide.

Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses is responsible for the booking, administration, payment handling, coordination and other services which it agrees to provide.

Independent instructors are responsible for the tuition they personally provide, including exercising appropriate professional care, maintaining appropriate DVSA status and insurance, and ensuring their tuition vehicle is suitable and lawful for instruction.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts liability where doing so would be unlawful, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

26. Consequential Loss and Personal Arrangements

Course dates, instructor availability and practical tests can occasionally change.

We strongly recommend that pupils do not make non-refundable travel, accommodation, employment or other arrangements until relevant dates have been confirmed.

Subject to applicable law, we will not normally be responsible for indirect or consequential losses resulting from changes outside our reasonable control which we could not reasonably have anticipated or prevented.

27. VAT

VAT will be applied where legally applicable according to our VAT registration status and the nature of the services supplied.

Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses operates an agency model under which independent instructors supply driving tuition to pupils and Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses provides agency, booking, administration, payment collection and coordination services.

The VAT treatment of amounts received will be determined in accordance with applicable VAT law and HMRC requirements.

Where a VAT invoice is legally required, it will be provided in accordance with applicable VAT requirements.

28. Business Identity

Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses operates as a sole-trader business.

The legal identity and required contact details of the proprietor will be disclosed to customers in accordance with applicable UK law and are available through our website and/or upon request.

29. Changes to These Terms

The Terms applicable to your booking will normally be those in force when you make the booking.

We may update these Terms for future bookings.

We will not retrospectively impose a material change upon an existing booking where doing so would unfairly disadvantage the pupil or remove an existing statutory or contractual right.

Any individually agreed variation should be confirmed in writing.

30. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Nothing in this section deprives a consumer of any mandatory legal rights regarding jurisdiction which apply to them.

Plain-English Summary

• A 5-Day Intensive Course provides 20 hours of tuition in total.
• A 7-Day Intensive Course provides 28 hours of tuition in total, unless expressly stated otherwise.
• “5-Day” and “7-Day” describe the course package and intensive format and do not guarantee tuition on exactly five or seven consecutive calendar days.
• Daily hours, lesson times and training days may vary.
• We may occasionally need to change course dates, times or arrangements for reasonable operational reasons.
• We will normally use your requested pickup location. Rarely, we may need to ask you to meet an instructor at a reasonable alternative location within the general area.
• Bristol and Bath Intensive Courses acts as an agent for independent driving instructors. The instructor supplies the driving tuition.
• Course payments are not ring-fenced and may be used in the ordinary operation of the business before the course, including payments to instructors and costs associated with arranging and delivering courses.
• We may release some or all of an instructor’s allocated payment before, during or after the course.
• If an instructor becomes unavailable, we must be given a reasonable opportunity to arrange replacement or rescheduled tuition.
• Replacement tuition may involve a reasonable delay depending upon instructor availability.
• If you ask to move, defer or hold back tuition, those hours become lesson credit and are not normally exchangeable for cash.
• If you pass your practical test, hours remaining because you moved, deferred, cancelled or held them back will expire.
• Pupil-missed lessons may count as used where the instructor was available to provide them.
• Cancelling or abandoning a course does not automatically entitle you to a refund of every unused hour.
• Problems should be reported promptly so we have an opportunity to investigate and, where appropriate, put things right.
• Nothing in these Terms removes your statutory consumer rights.