Bad CBT instructor

Hi,

I've had a bad experience with a driving instructor and I'm turning to you to help me in finding the right way to deal with the situation!

I'll start at the beginning. My Girlfriend has been a bit of a back seat biker for a few months and decided to get her own 125 motorbike, so she can be more independent and not rely on buses / me to give her lifts. So she sorted out insurance, bike, got it MOT'd and taxed and had her CBT all booked in. Great.

After the first few hours at the C B T place, she asked me to pick her up as her road test had been cancelled due to high winds. Arranged to finish her C B T the following week. Twice the instructor text to cancel because he was unwell, and when he finally did finish her CBT, she was done after 4 hours or so.

Apparently the instructor told her to go onto a 50cc Moped before the road test as she was struggling with gears, and when they were on the road test he somehow managed to lose my Girlfriend, so she had to make her own way back to the centre. At the end of the day she was given her C B T Certificate and all was good... Until we went to pick up her motorbike from the garage.

The next 20 mile ride was the scariest ride of my life... Arrived at the garage at about 9pm because of work etc, got the bike warmed up and passed it over to the misses, annnnnd she stalled. After about 30 minutes of trying / crying we decided to head 200 metres down the road to the nearest car park to get in a bit of practice, spent about an hour practicing there before having to set home. We were in radio contact the whole way so I could direct her and warn her etc, but I've noticed she's completely unaware of a few things:

1. How to Emergency Brake.

2. How to slow control.

3. Gear changing out of 1st... (That's fun on the A38!)

4. How to turn the full beam on, (Also fun)

5. How to go above 30mph.

This may not seem like much but just to clarify she only knows about life saver checks after riding over 1,000 miles as a pillion. And other things I have taught her myself.

So to cut a long story short, I would like to know is there a standards agency or anything I can report this guy to because I genuinely believe she is not ready for the road and for him to of issued her a CBT was endangering her life and that of other road users.

Many thanks in advance, apologies for the long post.

Ryn

https://www.gov.uk/cbt-compulsory-basic ... cbt-course

Just a theory and could be completely untrue admitting she's not ready for the road it could be the case she is required to take another CBT test and have her current certificate revoked, or undergo further training, could always ask about it in the complaints letter.

I've watched some youtube videos of instructors on youtube, lets just say I question the legitimacy of the certificates half of them produce.

https://www.gov.uk/compulsory-basic-tra ... bt-courses (might be of use to see if the school you went with is approved).

I would have her take the CBT with a different company. Fork out the money (£100 at most?) get her trained properly. If she carries on like this she will just be scared of bikes and hate them.

Just say to a test centre you passed the CBT on a twist and go and want some training for a geared. Probably easier than training her yourself..

Instead of re-taking the cbt, can you not contact another school and ask for further training.

The cbt is just a starting point however the instructor should have advised her to get further training.

Phone a decent school and have a chat with them about best course of action, they may suggest to have another cbt or maybe some one on one offroad training would be better to get her up to speed.

Good luck hope it all gets sorted out.

Ok, she's got her CBT. I'd say because the instructor did what sounds like a p*** poor job, you've got some work on your hands.

Car park practice and maybe even buy some cones? There isn't any reason why you can't teach her. The thing with the CBT in general is it's fairly brief and I'm not sure there is too much you can do to fail it. He's probably doing the bare minimum to get some cash in his pocket and another "happy" customer.

What others have said , she's got her CBT, wouldn't do it again , give her some car park training

There isn't any reason why you can't teach her.

Sorry I believe you should never teach your partner or spouse to drive, sail, ride etc.

Get your mate to do it, or approach a school for more training.

At some point the unnecessary argument or resentment will build. Much better they learn afresh with others keeps the mind open and stops both your frustrations...

I agree with the suggestions to get her some lessons with an instructor she is happy with.

This is whats wrong with the system, sorry but as it sounds she shouldnt have been given cert. some instructors use the easy option of justget a rev and go because they are wasy and they dont need to try and teach them how to ride a bike.

Chances are she was taught things that you have listed but because she was overwhelmed its all gone in one ear and out the other.

Two options are open to you, take her to another school for further training or to train her yourself.

My other half took her cbt and had a further 3 hours afterwards and atill wasnt given her cert because she couldnt slip the clutch properly pulling out of junctions, i saw her do it all in the carpark but all fell apart on the road, she also grabbed a fistfull of front and spilled

She was advised to get a rev and go and go back with it (they dont have 125's to learn on) then they would take her out on the road and give her a cert.

Hope it all works out, things will click into place before you know it just have patience with her and get her to take it easy

The "T" in CBT stands for Training.

The "B" is for Basic.

Its not a test, its training.

You can't expect everyone to be expert riders after one training session.

Regardless of what's she's capable of now, she's completed her Basic Training and is legal to ride so

get her to a car park and drum the basics of bike control into her. Once she's mastered the basics then you can move onto the road.

CBT is just the basics and to make sure you are safe and control the bike.

there will always be times when you make a mistake, had a few myself... but just get back on and carry on.

I also got a 125 advanced ride with my instructors, basically an hour long ride out with several stops and discussions on riding excetera, this included counter steer......there i said it

shes needs to build confidence on the bike, early morning rides etc are completely different to riding during rush hour.. too many road and bus w**kers out during rush hour

Find a quiet area and mark out with cones several obsticles one after another in a continuous loop that you can only complete using clutch control and light braking, show her the course then let her have a go and once she can complete it without putting her foot down once then she is ready for quiet roads and junctions.

This was the next step with my missus if she wanted to carry on with a geared bike, the riding school called it a pad session. As it happened ahe lost all confidence because she came off so now not interested

sounds like the instructor is being lazy of his job, needs a swift kick up the back side or the boot out the door.

my partner was terrified of motorcycle wouldn't get on one. I have slowly broke that down. and she rode a mini moto thing. and didn't go fast but had bit of a run on it.

then moped (and she hated it GOOD GIRL) lol

I was doing Mx Riding a lot through the summer I have been talked into building her a custom bike witch I have done. every weekend we have had free she has tried to get me to teach her gears.... this start with a lass that couldn't be near or be on a bike lol..

will get here gear lessons soon

give you partner a lesson round a empty car park or if you know of a lane that's quite or bit land, then give it ago build her confidents up.

Thanks for the replies.

All the local motorcycle training facilities seem to be going under, so there aren't many options within the local area. (The two places I had my CBT/Full bike training are closed down)

I've tinkered with her bike to make it more comfortable for her to ride.(Adjusted the clutch as she has small hands..) So hopefully that'll help. We're going to go and do some practice on Saturday so hopefully she'll feel better about it. We did spend about an hour going around the car park in Morrisons, before we rode back to my house.

Thankfully she's been on the back of my bike to and from work twice so she's not afraid of bikes, I think its being in control that's scaring her. Hopefully during the day time it'll be less nerve racking.

I'll give you an update on how that goes on Saturday!

Ryndar

Where abouts in the country are you?

Had a very and I stress a very bad experience whilst doing my CBT yesterday in York, I was rusty after a few years without a bike, I've had a few CBT's before over the years and never had any bother before and it was a pleasant experience, I was on a tiger 125 with I believe a bent upward back break which made it harder to use also the Speedo was broken though a clip on one was available, upon arrival I was late (20 mins) to which I politely apologised, went into the office paid £156 incl vat. All seemed to go well until I made a few mistakes which appeared to annoy the instructor, he was very aggravated then after for every tiny mistake (great help he was NOT) he said he didn't like people, why train 'people' then? He also said in an aggressive tone "stop saying sorry it's annoying" and also said he was getting pissed off a few times, I did training off road for about an hour give or take which at the end of this I wanted to walk away or get my fella to come get me, I felt uncomfortable, upset, and awkward, I felt I could not ask questions nor even speak by the end of all that! And now for the on road part, I text my fella just before I set off on the road at 11.31am (got my certificate at 12.30pm) no radios were used (thank hell I didn't have to listen to him in my ears!) I had to follow behind the instructor thought it was supposed to be the opposite? They follow you? With radio's? That's how it was before over the years when I've done CBT's and at least 2 hours of road training? And never have I experienced such a bad attitude towards people in my lifetime with his very aggressive tone and manner towards myself, I have the certificate but should I? How many others have got one with such disregard for safety? And bad mannerisms from what should be a person you can trust to teach you to be safe on the roads? I should report this instructor but is it worth it?

Well you have now 3 cbt's and if you think the last instructor should not have given you one then you may need to re think riding.

On another note this thread was 2 years old, normally folk say hello in the welcome section first

Oh and hello.