Lucy Merritt

I recently passed my practical test first time because of Gary!! He really has been my favourite instructor. I have tried a few different ones over the years but none of them made me feel as at ease as he did. Gary is passionate about teaching you how to drive and helps you to take the lead in your own learning. He was kind, patient and friendly throughout each lesson which helped me feel safe and calm whilst driving which is difficult for me being quite an anxious and self critical person already. Gary dealt with this very well, showing compassion and understanding, mostly through his sense of humour and gentle nature. Gary helped me to self evaluate my own driving skills, stopping to discuss what I had done well in addition to considering what areas I felt I needed to improve upon during my next lesson or felt less confident in and why. Also really important to say, I feel, is that he didn't repeatedly do this, and did not waste time discussing things when I could be learning practical skills, which I find is a major fault in many other instructors. Gary allocated time to do this whilst linking it to learning the practical skills of manoeuvres. So definitely good value for money with actual time driving. Being a nurse, Gary was also massively helpful in his flexibility, booking in lessons far in advance as well as short notice in addition to switching up where they began and ended to help me balance my shift work with my practical learning. The LDC resources online were the only reason I feel I was able to pass my theory test too. Really really helpful tool, and tests available on there. I could not praise him enough and the LDC way of learning. I am incredibly grateful for all his help and kindness.