Accelerate Driving School - your Cumbernauld based driving instructor offering high quality driving lessons at affordable prices!
07800 516 548
info@accelerate-driving-school.co.uk
07800 516 548
info@accelerate-driving-school.co.uk
6th May 2011
Unofficial driving test booking websites : advice for customers
Directgov is the only official driving test booking website.
Other websites offer driving test booking services, but might charge extra administrative fees on top of the Driving Standards Agency’s (DSA) fee. Those websites are not run by or connected to DSA or Directgov.
DSA recommends that all learner drivers book their driving test through the official booking service on Directgov by visiting direct.gov.uk/drivingtest.
If you have used an unofficial website
DSA gets complaints from customers who have used unofficial booking websites. In most cases these websites are doing nothing illegal. This means that DSA’s powers to respond may be limited.
If you have used an unofficial booking website, you might have seven working days to cancel your order and get all your money back. However, this will depend on the terms and conditions of the website you used.
You can find more information about your consumer rights on Directgov. You can also use template letters to complain to businesses. Each letter includes details of the law that you want the trader to follow.
• Internet, mail order and telephone shopping
• Making a complaint - what to do first
• Create a complaint letter from a template
What DSA is doing about unofficial booking websites
DSA takes consumer protection very seriously. So, DSA is:
• protecting its trademarks to make sure they are not:
◦ used to advertise unofficial booking sites in search engine results
◦ used as part of website addresses for unofficial booking websites
• asking the Advertising Standards Authority to make sure unofficial booking websites are following the rules in the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing
• asking local Trading Standards to investigate those unofficial booking websites that appear to be misleading consumers
What DSA is doing to promote the official booking service
DSA makes improvements based on learner drivers’ feedback to promote the official booking service. For example DSA:
• made sure that the official Directgov website pages appear at the top of search engine results where possible
• created videos showing how to use the practical test booking service – videos are being developed for the theory test booking service too
• reminded learner drivers on Twitter and Facebook about using the official booking service on Directgov
Unofficial driving test booking websites : advice for customers
Directgov is the only official driving test booking website.
Other websites offer driving test booking services, but might charge extra administrative fees on top of the Driving Standards Agency’s (DSA) fee. Those websites are not run by or connected to DSA or Directgov.
DSA recommends that all learner drivers book their driving test through the official booking service on Directgov by visiting direct.gov.uk/drivingtest.
If you have used an unofficial website
DSA gets complaints from customers who have used unofficial booking websites. In most cases these websites are doing nothing illegal. This means that DSA’s powers to respond may be limited.
If you have used an unofficial booking website, you might have seven working days to cancel your order and get all your money back. However, this will depend on the terms and conditions of the website you used.
You can find more information about your consumer rights on Directgov. You can also use template letters to complain to businesses. Each letter includes details of the law that you want the trader to follow.
• Internet, mail order and telephone shopping
• Making a complaint - what to do first
• Create a complaint letter from a template
What DSA is doing about unofficial booking websites
DSA takes consumer protection very seriously. So, DSA is:
• protecting its trademarks to make sure they are not:
◦ used to advertise unofficial booking sites in search engine results
◦ used as part of website addresses for unofficial booking websites
• asking the Advertising Standards Authority to make sure unofficial booking websites are following the rules in the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing
• asking local Trading Standards to investigate those unofficial booking websites that appear to be misleading consumers
What DSA is doing to promote the official booking service
DSA makes improvements based on learner drivers’ feedback to promote the official booking service. For example DSA:
• made sure that the official Directgov website pages appear at the top of search engine results where possible
• created videos showing how to use the practical test booking service – videos are being developed for the theory test booking service too
• reminded learner drivers on Twitter and Facebook about using the official booking service on Directgov
11th May 2011
Better enforcement and education to cut road deaths
Plans to improve road safety education while taking tough action against the small minority of dangerous drivers were set out by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond today.
Careless driving will be made a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle reckless driving that puts other road users in danger, while disqualified drivers face having to take a new test before regaining their licence.
There will also be more educational courses that can be offered in place of a fixed penalty and points in appropriate cases as well as a new post-test qualification for novice drivers, under plans set out in the new Strategic Framework for Road Safety.
And as new analysis shows, 3,500 deaths and serious injuries could have been prevented in a year if the successes of better local authorities and police forces had been matched across the country. Local people will be given the information they need to have a real say in road safety priorities on their local roads.
Philip Hammond said:
"This report marks a sea change in how we tackle road safety in this country. We are determined to differentiate between wilfully reckless drivers and the law abiding majority who sometimes make honest mistakes, or who have allowed their skills to deteriorate.
"We will focus relentlessly on cracking down on the really reckless few who are responsible for a disproportionately large number of accidents and deaths on our roads. By allowing the police to focus resources on dealing with these drivers, we can make our roads even safer.
"Our vision is to ensure Britain remains a world leader on road safety. We will only do this is if we bring people with us. This means cracking down on the most dangerous drivers without waging war on the law abiding majority.
The new Strategic Framework for Road Safety sets out the government’s plans to:
The government’s long term vision is to ensure that Britain remains a world leader on road safety and the department will monitor its performance against indicators in a new road safety outcomes framework.
Better enforcement and education to cut road deaths
Plans to improve road safety education while taking tough action against the small minority of dangerous drivers were set out by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond today.
Careless driving will be made a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle reckless driving that puts other road users in danger, while disqualified drivers face having to take a new test before regaining their licence.
There will also be more educational courses that can be offered in place of a fixed penalty and points in appropriate cases as well as a new post-test qualification for novice drivers, under plans set out in the new Strategic Framework for Road Safety.
And as new analysis shows, 3,500 deaths and serious injuries could have been prevented in a year if the successes of better local authorities and police forces had been matched across the country. Local people will be given the information they need to have a real say in road safety priorities on their local roads.
Philip Hammond said:
"This report marks a sea change in how we tackle road safety in this country. We are determined to differentiate between wilfully reckless drivers and the law abiding majority who sometimes make honest mistakes, or who have allowed their skills to deteriorate.
"We will focus relentlessly on cracking down on the really reckless few who are responsible for a disproportionately large number of accidents and deaths on our roads. By allowing the police to focus resources on dealing with these drivers, we can make our roads even safer.
"Our vision is to ensure Britain remains a world leader on road safety. We will only do this is if we bring people with us. This means cracking down on the most dangerous drivers without waging war on the law abiding majority.
The new Strategic Framework for Road Safety sets out the government’s plans to:
- Make careless driving a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle the wilfully reckless driving that puts other road users in danger. Guidance will ensure that that the circumstances in which a fixed penalty notice is appropriate are clearly defined.
- Require offenders to pass a test before they regain their licence after a serious disqualification.
- Make greater use of powers to seize vehicles to keep the most dangerous drivers off the roads.
- Increase the level of fixed penalty notices for traffic offences from £60 to between £80 and £100 and penalty points. Levels have fallen behind those for other fixed penalty offences, which risks trivialising the offences.
- Improve enforcement against drink and drug driving, as announced in the response to the North Report in March.
Increase the use of police-approved educational courses that can be offered in place of fixed penalty notices to encourage safer driving behaviour. - Launch a new post-test qualification for new drivers, including an assessment process to give insurers confidence that it will create safer drivers who can expect to pay lower insurance costs. This will replace the current Pass Plus scheme.
- Continue to improve the driving and motorcycling training processes, including introducing film clips into theory test.
- Create a new website to allow local people to easily compare the road safety performance of their local area against similar areas, as well as a new portal to help road safety professionals share information. The framework published today also includes maps which show the recent road safety records and improvements of local authorities.
- Launch an annual road safety day.
The government’s long term vision is to ensure that Britain remains a world leader on road safety and the department will monitor its performance against indicators in a new road safety outcomes framework.
20th May 2011
Your chance to cut motoring red tape
Life is about to get easier for road users, businesses, and local authorities as Roads Minister Mike Penning today pledged to slash unnecessary red tape.
Over 400 Whitehall road transport regulations have been placed on the Red Tape Challenge website – a Government-wide site aimed at reducing bureaucracy - for four weeks. It asks everyone whether they think that a regulation is well designed and provides vital protections, or is badly designed, badly implemented or simply a bad idea.
Prime candidates for being scrapped include:
The requirement for motorists to have a paper or electronically issued Motor Insurance certificate. Getting rid of this requirement could reduce admin costs for businesses and cut bureaucracy for many people;
Regulations specifying that bus companies have to wait 48 hours before they can throw away perishable items that have been left on the bus;
Rules specifying the procedure that councils must go through when installing speed humps. This includes the minimum (and maximum) heights and the minimum number of lights that must be installed nearby.
Mike Penning said;
“We are calling on everyone: consumers, businesses and volunteer groups to get involved and help reduce the number of badly thought out and obsolete regulations in our country."
Further information:
Your chance to cut motoring red tape
Life is about to get easier for road users, businesses, and local authorities as Roads Minister Mike Penning today pledged to slash unnecessary red tape.
Over 400 Whitehall road transport regulations have been placed on the Red Tape Challenge website – a Government-wide site aimed at reducing bureaucracy - for four weeks. It asks everyone whether they think that a regulation is well designed and provides vital protections, or is badly designed, badly implemented or simply a bad idea.
Prime candidates for being scrapped include:
The requirement for motorists to have a paper or electronically issued Motor Insurance certificate. Getting rid of this requirement could reduce admin costs for businesses and cut bureaucracy for many people;
Regulations specifying that bus companies have to wait 48 hours before they can throw away perishable items that have been left on the bus;
Rules specifying the procedure that councils must go through when installing speed humps. This includes the minimum (and maximum) heights and the minimum number of lights that must be installed nearby.
Mike Penning said;
“We are calling on everyone: consumers, businesses and volunteer groups to get involved and help reduce the number of badly thought out and obsolete regulations in our country."
Further information:
23rd May 2011
Motorists warned to get insured ahead of crackdown
Motorists are being warned to insure their vehicles ahead of a new crackdown to tackle the menace of uninsured driving.
Under the new Continuous Insurance Enforcement law – which will affect all motorists from 20 June – it is an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than just to drive when uninsured.
A national advertising campaign will be launched by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau today to raise awareness of the law.
Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said:
“Uninsured drivers are a danger on our roads, killing 160 and injuring a further 23,000 people each year, and they cost honest motorists £500 million in extra premiums. That is why we are introducing this tough new law which will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide.
Our message is clear – get insured or face a fine, court action or seeing your car seized and destroyed.”
Ashton West, Chief Executive at the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, said:
“The change in law is a stepping up of enforcement activity, so that not only those vehicles driven without insurance will be caught. Now the registered keeper must make sure that their vehicle is insured all the time.
In order to make sure everyone is aware of the new scheme, a national awareness campaign will be shown on satellite and terrestrial TV channels.
Around four percent of vehicles have no motor insurance at any given time, and this needs to change so that is why this new enforcement approach is so important.”
Under the new system:
The new law will run alongside the existing offence of using a vehicle with no insurance, which is enforced by the police. The police seize 180,000 vehicles each year for this offence, and offenders also face a £200 fixed penalty or a court fine of up to £5,000 and possible disqualification.
The DVLA’s records will be compared regularly with the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and this process will identify registered keepers of vehicles that appear to have no insurance. All drivers can check their vehicle is recorded on the MID for free - visit askMID.com.
Motorists warned to get insured ahead of crackdown
Motorists are being warned to insure their vehicles ahead of a new crackdown to tackle the menace of uninsured driving.
Under the new Continuous Insurance Enforcement law – which will affect all motorists from 20 June – it is an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than just to drive when uninsured.
A national advertising campaign will be launched by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau today to raise awareness of the law.
Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said:
“Uninsured drivers are a danger on our roads, killing 160 and injuring a further 23,000 people each year, and they cost honest motorists £500 million in extra premiums. That is why we are introducing this tough new law which will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide.
Our message is clear – get insured or face a fine, court action or seeing your car seized and destroyed.”
Ashton West, Chief Executive at the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, said:
“The change in law is a stepping up of enforcement activity, so that not only those vehicles driven without insurance will be caught. Now the registered keeper must make sure that their vehicle is insured all the time.
In order to make sure everyone is aware of the new scheme, a national awareness campaign will be shown on satellite and terrestrial TV channels.
Around four percent of vehicles have no motor insurance at any given time, and this needs to change so that is why this new enforcement approach is so important.”
Under the new system:
- The DVLA will work in partnership with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau to identify uninsured vehicles.
- Motorists will receive a letter telling them that their vehicle appears to be uninsured and warning them that they will be fined unless they take action.
- If the keeper fails to insure the vehicle they will be given a £100 fine.
- If the vehicle remains uninsured - regardless of whether the fine is paid – further action will be taken. If the vehicle is on public land it could then be clamped, seized and destroyed. Alternatively court action could be taken, with the offender facing a fine of up to £1,000.
- Seized vehicles would only be released when the keeper provided evidence that the registered keeper is no longer committing an offence of having no insurance and the person proposing to drive the vehicle away is insured to do so.
The new law will run alongside the existing offence of using a vehicle with no insurance, which is enforced by the police. The police seize 180,000 vehicles each year for this offence, and offenders also face a £200 fixed penalty or a court fine of up to £5,000 and possible disqualification.
The DVLA’s records will be compared regularly with the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and this process will identify registered keepers of vehicles that appear to have no insurance. All drivers can check their vehicle is recorded on the MID for free - visit askMID.com.
