Ryan Mason

A little bit about my journey to being an ADI, and how Paul Bentley helped me get there... I'd done my Pt1, Pt2, and 40 hours Pt3 training with a large national school, and got on my PDI licence with an independent ADI as a sponsor. Unfortunately, my sponsor at the time didn't do a great deal with regards to the extra 20 hours of training, or with supplying pupils. I was 1 month into my PDI licence and feeling the pressure of having to book a Pt3 test without the much needed extra 20 hours of tuition under my now extending belt. This is when I had to change my situation, and look for the real help I needed. This is where Paul Bentley and his driving school, Bentley School of Motoring came in. The appearance of Pauls calm and friendly manner on his website were what appealed to me the most when browsing for a local, well established driving school to help me achieve my goal of passing the ADI PT3 test. The school itself looked great, and the fact that it had a page on the website dedicated to training aspiring driving instructors really helped and swayed my decision to reach out for help. After filling in the quick form online, I recieved more, indepth information via email regarding the PDI/ADI training. A very clear structure and pricing allowed me to speak to Paul confidently, and with a clear picture in my head of what might happen if I took on his offer of training. We spoke on the phone breifly to gauge what my needs were and arranged to meet up for a coffee to discuss further. After meeting up with Paul, I realised I'd hit the jackpot. A genuine bloke, who wasn't trying to force sell tuition or a franchise, but was more interested in how I'd got to where I was at the time, and how he could help me achieve my goal of passing the ADI PT3 test. Another massive bonus for me, was that due to Paul's reputation in the area, he had plenty of new learners waiting for a slot for driving lessons. The fact that I needed some pupils, and he had loads waiting, worked perfectly and Bentley School of Motoring had essentially given me the bulk of my pupils and income whilst on the PDI licence. I gave myself a couple of days to think after meeting Paul and arranged to speak to him again. I then went ahead with changing my PDI sponsor to him, committed to the training he had to offer, and had taken on some of his pupils from his schools waiting list. The training itself was brilliant, and if I'm being honest, was far better than the national school I'd gone to. So if your reading this review/blog post and thinking of using an local independent trainer, then I'd say you're on the correct and arguably better path. A bit more about the training though... We arranged an observed lesson where Paul would see me teaching a real pupil, and would take notes from the back of the car for us to work on moving forward. The following sessions I had with Paul were structured well and we're orientated around the areas that I could improve on. These worked perfectly as it was personal to me and were relevant. A very professional approach by Paul to the Pt3 Training was evident straight away. The notes prepped for the lesson, routes taken, and books prepared all allowed us to get on with the task in hand without any delay. Role play is a technique used when teaching driving instructors, and it's not different here. We would do this on some training sessions were Paul would act as either a learner driver, or as the experienced driving instructor. These really helped, and it was great to see the little nuggets of wisdom and experience from Paul. Little quotes like "kiss the parrot", or "revisit the scene of the crime" (you'll learn what these mean) all really helped me out when it came to my teaching teaching style. To see how an instructor at Paul's level would approach different situations whilst teaching proved invaluable too. His ability to remain calm, composed, and coordinated, whilst thinking about my training needs too is a level I still aspire to achieve on my daily driving lessons today. After a few more instructor training sessions, observed lessons etc, it was time to start preparing for the ADI Pt3 Test. Again, Paul's calm but confident approach worked really well for me and put me in good stead for my test. Plenty of preparation and ironing out small errors in my teaching allowed my to build up my confidence, and I went into the Pt3 test telling myself I was going to pass it on the first attempt. There's absolutely no chance I'd have gone into the test feeling confident and telling myself I'd pass without Paul's help. Writing this now, I'm extremely happy to have got the pass first time, and it's all thanks to Paul. It's not often you meet genuine people in business or work nowadays, but I can confidently say that I found one, and it's a pleasure to work with and along side Paul at Bentley School of Motoring today. The little instructor wave daily when we pass each on the roads is a great reminder as to why I'm actually on the roads teaching people to drive today. If you've got this far with the reading then well done. I'm happy to champion Paul's endeavour of being ORDIT registered and teach the next aspiring driving instructor, and wish you the best of luck. Ryan Mason, Proudly working with Bentley School of Motoring.