The following information is being provided here on the BIG TOM Franchise website to reassure prospective driving instructors of our commitment to being a responsible training provider. 

 

We have also updated the Help Centre for customers of BIG TOM Driving School with the consultation announcement made today by the DVSA regarding changes to the driving test booking process. 

 

Two changes of note: 

To extend the time in which a driving test booking can be changed from the current period of no less than 3 working days to no less than 10 working days 

In the event of a driving test fail, to extend the time a new test booking can be made from the current period of 10 working days to 28 working days. 

 

The rationale behind these changes is given in full in the explanation from the DVSA. Driving instructors who wish to keep up to date with these details, and previous regulatory announcements and all future announcements are invited to join the ADI Union Forum HERE 

 

Neither of these two changes affect the normal running of the BIG TOM Franchise. BIG TOM Admin handles the test booking management on behalf of BIG TOM instructors and neither of these changes will impact the normal running of our driving training programme. 

 

The BIG TOM Franchise operates a systematic process for the management of tests that has been formulated, and tried and tested over several years. We are very confident that the pupils we present for test are justified for being tested, through the successful utilisation of a carefully developed assessment process that is reliably accurate. We understand that quite clearly the DVSA finds the test pass rates of some driving schools to be unacceptably low and as such, is attempting to raise transparency of the performance statistics of these sub-standard driving schools for public viewing.   

 

At the time of writing, there has not been a single driving test fail by any pupil presented by BIG TOM for the years of 2022 and 2023. BIG TOM Admin is in the process of requesting written confirmation of that fact from the DVSA and will publish the report when able. All driving test presentations by BIG TOM in 2022, 2023 and beyond have had the green badge displayed on the windscreen without exception. Between 10/11/2021 – 21/12/2021 there were 4 driving tests that BIG TOM presented pupils without displaying a green badge, of those 4 tests, 3 passed. Subsequent to 21/12/2021 the green badge has been displayed for all driving test presentations. 

 

BIG TOM welcomes the proposal that the DVSA make driving test performance data freely available for the public to view. If and until that time arises, the data from 01/10/21 – 29/03/2023 is as follows: [DVSA minimum standard given in brackets] 

86% driving test pass rate [55%+] 

3.8 faults/test [no greater than 5] 

0.13 serious faults/test [no greater than 0.5]  

6% physical intervention, 0% verbal intervention [no greater than 10%] 

In the interests of clarity, none of the 4 parameters are being triggered. The DVSA recall a driving instructor when 3 of the 4 parameters are triggered.