News: Interview - "Jessica"
Jessica Money, 27, is a mobile hairdresser and passed her test with Arrow School of Motoring, run by Michaela.
“DID YOU DECIDE YOU WANTED A FEMALE DRIVING INSTRUCTOR BEFORE YOU STARTED TAKING LESSONS?”
“Yes, this time round I did because I had lessons about 6 years ago with a male so I wanted a female this time.”
“Why was that?”
“I just found it a bit uncomfortable having a male and it just seemed that he was a little bit pervy, for want of a better word.”
“HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR DRIVING INSTRUCTOR?”
“I went on the internet and looked for female driving instructors. I was actually going on there looking for an intensive course, which is like a week’s course. A few of the websites were advising not to do that and Michaela was one of them that suggested an alternative, which was a semi-intensive course… so I did it over 8 weeks I think it was. I needed to pass as soon as possible, obviously with the business and everything.
I didn’t want to hassle anyone until I knew how much they cost. I didn’t want to make loads of phone calls to people, so that’s why I went on the internet, to get prices and see who had female instructors and semi-intensive courses. When I knew that I was thinking of going with Michaela I actually phoned up to talk about how it works and everything else. She advised me to do my theory test…she told me where to get the DVD package, where the CD ROM and DVD are together and all the pieces of information that I would need. I even phoned her a couple of times about the theory. I had a bit of trouble with the hazard perception, but she said that most people do apparently. It was just that sort of thing that I contacted her for.”
“WHAT WAS YOUR DRIVING INSTRUCTOR LIKE?”
“She was lovely…she was really nice. She encouraged me all the way through it which I needed because I haven’t got a lot of confidence. She was always praising me for things that I did well and if I did anything wrong she didn’t make me feel like I was a dozy cow! She would say to me “Don’t be silly, it’s not that bad”…like stupid things like stalling all the time, I’ve got a habit of doing that when I get nervous, and she would say that it doesn’t matter as long as you get yourself out of the situation, and it helped.”
“DID YOU ENJOY LEARNING TO DRIVE?”
“Yeah, I really did. I said to Michaela that if I could have afforded it I would have carried on, even though I’d passed, I just enjoyed going out with her. It was good.”
"Was that always the case from the beginning?”
“For the first lesson I was really nervous because obviously I didn’t know what to expect but she didn’t push me any further than I could be pushed. She went along with my level and that suited me. Anything that I was worried about I talked through with her so she was quite easy for that. I actually suffer panic attacks and they just come on randomly and obviously that worried me with driving but I found it no problem with her. Anything that I needed to ask she gave me advice on, even what to take to calm your nerves and things like that. She was very helpful.”
"DO YOU THINK THERE ARE ANY ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A FEMALE DRIVING INSTRUCTOR?”
“Well yes, I don’t mean to sound sexist but I just think that… well Michaela was definitely - I don’t know about all of them obviously, but they do seem to be more relaxed and not pressure you. With the male instructor I had before, I just felt like he was telling me off if I did anything wrong. I felt like I was being told off like a naughty child, whereas Michaela was doing the opposite and actually focusing on what I was doing right, so that helped. I do think that I felt less intimidated having a female.”
"HAVE YOU BOUGHT YOUR FIRST CAR YET?”
“Yes, I’ve just bought it actually. It’s being delivered to me tonight.”
Fantastic! What did you buy?”
“A Peugeot 306.”
"Lovely...very nice.”
"WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO ANYONE OUT THERE WHO IS DECIDING WHETHER TO USE A FEMALE DRIVING INSTRUCTOR?”
“I would definitely 100% recommend it. I’ve already given Michaela’s phone number to my sister who is thinking about driving and my best friend who has already contacted her through email. Even people I meet when I’m hairdressing, I’m always saying how good she is so I just think that’s it a good way of doing it. It’s a lot less stressful.”
