Acclaim Driving Avis 1 304

My experience with Acclaim Driving was amazing. My instructor, Pavan, was very patient and gave me helpful tips that made it easier to improve. I struggled most with confidence and nerves, but his calm approach really helped me stay relaxed. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

My instructor Glen was extremely helpful and a relaxing environment

My driving instructor was brilliant, really grateful to Rich Cotter in Wiltshire for his patience and determination in helping to get me through my test. Rory M.

Cannot recommend Stephen Whinnery as a driving instructor enough! He was the most supportive, patient and professional instructor ever, driving is nerve wrecking as a learning and he made every lesson something to look forward to and enjoy. I passed first time with Stephen as my instructor and had zero doubts that I wouldnt! If you are looking to start your driving lessons Stephen is the instructor that you should choose especially if you want to enjoy driving!!

Amazing experience, passed today as my instructor had prepared me exceptionally well.

Chris was a fantastic instructor and I wouldn’t of passed without him

Very good and helpful.
Sloane (driving instructor) was very good.

Steven Bostock is an amazing driving instructor! He gave my son confidence and passed his driving test today. I highly recommend using acclaim! And thank you Steven for everything. 10/10 😊

Looking for driving lessons I saw Acclaim over everywhere, so I decided to contact them to find an instructor. BIG MISTAKE.

The day of my introduction 2h lesson the instructor arrived on time and looked nice at first. After saying hi he asked to see my provisional licence, to which I handed him my full driving licence (as I passed my full motorbike license) and straight away he was confused. He told me I couldn't learn until I had a provisional and had to request one, and I told him I can't request a provisional licence because that is my license there, and I had no issues when I did my theory test. He googled it twice to check if I was entitled to learn to drive and eventually we checked my licence details with the Gov. Website, and I indeed was entitled to learn. A rocky start but I thought that it was probably because he had never seen anyone with a full motorcycle licence but not a car one.

After this I told him that I've been riding for 4 years daily on a motorcycle and a year ago I passed my motorbike A licence and I've been riding a 600cc since then. I commute a total of 60 miles a day. And I've also had lessons with my partner on his automatic car and I've had no issues with driving so far, I just needed to get used to gears in a car. I did learn to drive a manual car but that was over a year ago. I then told him I had my test date booked in 8 weeks time.

His reaction to all this? He laughed. He laughed on my face and not in a nice way. He asked me multiple times if I was joking. He said there and then that I was going to fail and I would need to move my test forward. This conversation went on for a while. Eventually after telling me that DVSA recomend x hours of learning etc he checks his diary and realised he had a test booked just before mine, and wouldn't leave him enough time in between both tests so he wouldn't be able to take me in as a student. And then HE LAUGHED AGAIN and said that he wouldn't had taken me anyway because DVSA tell instructors not to take in any students who are not test ready because it would be a waste of time (he didn't see how I drive yet and was assuming I was going to fail).

The he said to me he didn't know what to do now. And I said I paid for the 2h so I wanted to drive for what was left of the lesson.

He drove us to the test centre area (which is 5 minutes down the road from me) and then I basically just drove around the block. He was so surprised my driving was smooth. 30 minutes before the end I parked the car and he told me that there is basically nothing else to do today. So I kept asking him questions about the driving test just to drag the time I paid for. At some point he said that I must still remember how it goes because the motorbike test must not be too different for the car one, and I said yes I remember it, and I actually did it fine, I passed both Mods first time with no faults, and he was again very surprised for some reason?

I was home 15 minutes before the end of the lesson and before leaving he told me to not get too excited when I go back home because the lesson went well, there's a lot more that goes into driving than that and I'm probably going to fail. I asked him what he meant by that and he couldn't quite respond.

Spoiler I passed first time.

I'm very disappointed with this being my first experience with a "professional " driving instructor. I found an actual instructor from YM driving who was not only professional, but realistic with my driving. He saw my areas of improvement and worked with me to polish my driving (at this point 6 weeks before my test date).

I passed my test 3 days ago, never changed my test date.

I wouldn't recommend Acclaim to anyone. Horrible experience. No professional instructor should tell their student they're a waste of time who will fail before they even touch the steering wheel.

10/10 highly highly recommend Travis

Very professional and patient when it comes to learning how to drive. Very determined to get me passed, thank you!

I want to say a big thank you to Wakeel Effendi (Wakeelji, the way I call) my driving instructor for all his help and guidance. His patience and calm approach really made a difference in my learning journey. I especially appreciate how he helped me unlearn some of my old driving habits and replace them with, more vehicle friendly and safer techniques.
Although I was confident of my driving skills and my training, Passing my UK driving test on the first attempt after just 12 lessons is something I am extremely happy about and it’s a testament to how effective Wakeelji's teaching style is. He made every lesson feel constructive and encouraging. What really stood out was his calm, supportive, and non-judgemental approach. Every lesson felt stress-free, which made a huge difference in building my confidence behind the wheel.
My test route was also one of those routes he had taken me on and had given clear instructions about what could be the common mistakes people make and fail which indeed was very helpful for me to Pass. I would highly recommend acclaim driving and Wakeel to anyone looking to learn driving the right way and for a calm, supportive and stress free way to learn.

Thank you Tom Harris for helping me pass my test you made me feel confident behind the wheel and get me full self belief you are easy to talk to and know exactly what your talking about when it comes to the teaching side wouldn’t recommend any one else 👍🏼

Dave Hollis (my driving instructor) was absolutely brilliant. Every single lesson was filled with so much laughter. Dave is hilarious, kind, patient and understanding, he will answer any question you have and guide you through your driving journey making you feel at ease. I couldn’t rate him highly and thank him enough, he made my confidence grow exponentially when driving.

My instructor Gurpreet Singh was a fantastic instructor, his instruction style was exam like which is telling you where to turn or what to do in "good time". Every lesson had some type of structure, as an example: each 2 hour lesson had a different focus such road signs, roundabouts, A roads, parking manoeuvres which I believe is very helpful as it allows to focus on how each thing works. Gurpreet is a good instructor regardless of what the situation is such as patient when stalling in busy areas, he is also honest and attentive in mistakes which he tries to correct verbally such as mentioning the speed limit or when wanting to turn he is reminding of what to do such as mirrors and indicating

I had Simon as my auto driving instructor! He was just perfect! He’s so so calm and very patient. He preps you so well for your test and the only reason I passed first time is because of his amazing teaching! If you need an auto instructor you must book Simon!

Richard got my two daughters through their tests first time with no fuss.

Huge thanks to Rich Cotter for helping my son pass his driving test on the first attempt! From the very first lesson, Rich was professional, punctual, and incredibly patient. My son felt comfortable behind the wheel almost immediately, and the clear, calm instruction really helped build his confidence. We couldn't have asked for a better experience. Highly recommend to any parents looking for a reliable instructor!

I booked lessons & and an Intensive driving course w/c 6.4.26 and w/c 13.4.26. This was booked & paid for on 20.1.26. The driving test was booked for Friday 17.4.26.
It is apparent that once Acclaim have their money they don’t care about their customers or what happens next.
The driving instructor did not turn up for the first lesson on Tuesday 7.4.26. On contacting Acclaim, they said they couldn’t get hold of the instructor and didn’t advise what was going on.
Acclaim did not ring us back as requested to provide any explanation or reassurance that an instructor would turn up for any of the other lessons already booked. So we had to ring Acclaim twice on Wednesday 8.4.26 before finding out that the instructor we had booked was due to leave Acclaim on Friday 10.4.26, but still we were not being given any reassurance that any alternative driving instructor would be giving the lessons.
We were left completely clueless what was going on & with the driving test the following week led to excessive stress and upset. This is complete incompetence on the part of Acclaim.
As soon as Acclaim knew they had a driving instructor that was leaving, alternative arrangements should have been made for lessons booked & students affected informed.
We were very fortunate that the Driving Instructor did finally get in touch with us & lessons were re-arranged to accommodate us but our agreement was with Acclaim, not the driving instructor as an individual and so Acclaim are responsible for ensuring lessons go as planned.
At no point has Acclaim apologised or rang us. Any contact we have had with Acclaim is because we have rang to chase them. A manager or senior person should have jumped on this and sorted it out straight away.
I would definitely not recommend Acclaim