Minimum Driving Lessons Needed

Late last week I received a call for a lady requesting lessons prior to her test. Her test date was for today the 13Th May. I offered the pupil a date for last week but the offer was declined and a booking was made for Monday this week.

At 10.30 pm on Sunday evening the pupil called and cancelled the lesson due to car trouble, she re booked for Tuesday11Th May, using my car.I arrived for the lesson in good time, the pupil was late. She arrived with no learner permit and had never taken a lesson before in her life. Leaving the test centre in 1st gear and revving the engine to full capacity, I realised I had a difficult task ahead of me.
By the time we had gone 2 miles down the road the pupil had accumulated so many mistakes that it would have been a definite fail on any test sheet.

We pulled in at the side of the road with no indication or mirror checks, to talk about the faults and how to rectify them. After talking through the need for mirror checks, correct positioning on roundabouts and the used and function of the clutch, we moved off, this time with no blind spot check.The one hour lesson continued with strained smiles, crunching of the hand break and constant coasting.
We never managed to practice a turnabout or the reverse around the corner as all attention was on the physical drive itself.

A further booking was made for Wednesday and Thursday(the day of the test) this week.
On Wednesday the pupil arrived at the test centre in her own car with a light on the dash board, one bald tyre and a torn tax disc. I explained the car was not suitable for test purpose and that an alternative vehicle would have to be used. We again proceeded out of the test centre and onto the roads were there was little or no improvement with the mirror checks or coasting. This time we did manage to complete a manoeuvre or two but we hit the kerb with such force that I could actually feel my back pull out of place.
I did not think things could have got worse until this morning when my pupil arrived in a friends car that she had never driven before and we spent the entire lesson stalling the vehicle. To top that she was uncertain if the insurance on the car allowed her to drive it as she had not contacted her insurance company in advance.

To cut a long story short I wished the pupil well as I escorted her into her test. We shook hands but I did not wait to see her downfall. I was far too embarrassed to know I had sent in a pupil at such a poor standard.
We (ADI'S) have been promised by the RSA that "minimum driving lessons" would be brought in last year. If this legislation was already in place my pupil would not have been allowed apply for her test until her lessons were signed off by an instructor, never mind be apply to sit the test.
And to cap it all regardless of the result today, the pupil will get back into the friends car unaccompanied and drive home and no one will say a thing!