Complaints & Refund Policy

Last updated: 18 June 2026

If something about your lessons has gone wrong, tell us. This page explains how to raise it, how quickly you will hear back, what happens if our answer does not satisfy you, and exactly how refunds work on hours you have paid for and not used.

How to Complain

The quickest route is usually your instructor: most things (a lesson time that keeps slipping, feedback you did not follow, a route you are not getting on with) are sorted in the car in five minutes.

If you would rather not, or the answer did not fix it, phone 07706 876263 or email info@wharfdrivingschool.co.uk. It helps if you can tell us:

• your name and how best to reach you;
• your instructor’s name and the dates involved;
• what happened, and what you would like us to do about it.

A parent, guardian, partner or friend can raise a complaint on your behalf. You will not be treated differently for complaining, and it will not affect the lessons you get.

What Happens Next

We aim to acknowledge a complaint within 2 working days and to give you a full answer within 10 working days. If we need longer, because we have to speak to an instructor who is teaching all week for example, we will tell you that rather than go quiet, and we will keep you updated.

Some concerns do not belong here. A concern about your safety or about an instructor’s conduct is handled under our Safeguarding Policy, which is faster and does not wait on these timescales. A concern that you have been treated unfairly because of who you are is handled under our Equality & Diversity Policy. A problem using this website is covered by our Accessibility Statement. You do not have to work out which one applies. Contact us and we will route it.

If Our Answer Is Not Good Enough

Say so, and we will look again. Beyond that, a complaint about an approved driving instructor’s conduct or standard of instruction can be taken to the DVSA, the body that registers and regulates approved driving instructors. Nothing in this policy asks you to come to us before you go to them.

Changing Instructor

You do not need to make a complaint to change instructor. Ask, at any time, for any reason, and whatever you have already bought carries over to the new instructor at no cost.

Refunds

How this works depends on what you booked:

• Single lessons. Cancel or move a lesson with at least 48 hours’ notice and there is nothing to pay, so nothing to refund. Cancelled later than that, or missed with no notice, a lesson may be charged in full. The wording sits in our Terms & Conditions.
• Blocks of ten hours. If you stop part way through, we refund the hours you have not taken. Hours already taken are charged at the block rate, not the single-hour rate.
• Intensive courses. Before the course starts, a full refund. Once it has started, we refund the hours not yet taken.
• Mock tests. Refundable if cancelled with at least 48 hours’ notice.
• DVSA test fees. Paid by you directly to the DVSA and never held by us, so we cannot refund them. That is between you and the DVSA.

Where a block or a course has already started, an administration fee may be deducted from the refund of unused pre-paid hours. We will tell you the amount in writing before we process anything, so you always know the figure before you agree to it. No fee is deducted where the reason for the refund is ours: if we cannot supply the lessons you paid for, you get the whole of the unused balance back.

We take cash and bank transfer, so refunds go back by bank transfer to an account in your name, or in cash if that is how you paid and you would rather have it that way. Either way, normally within 14 days of agreeing the amount.

Your Statutory Rights

Nothing on this page reduces your rights as a consumer under UK law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which entitles you to services carried out with reasonable care and skill. If this policy and the law ever disagree, the law wins.