Thinking about leaving a driving school franchise?
Call or text Clint on 07870 809 373. Every conversation is confidential.
For qualified instructors
Already qualified? You do not need training. You need better terms.
Most ADIs who ring us have been thinking about it for months.
They know something is wrong. They just are not sure there is a realistic way out, or anywhere better to go.
You already know what you are paying for. The weekly fee that never stops. The cut taken from every lesson. Paying while you are sick. Paying while you are on holiday. Paying while the car is off the road. Tests booked without a word to you. Pupils who never quite feel like yours.
We are not going to pretend every franchise works that way. Some are fine. But if yours has stopped feeling like a partnership, you are not stuck with it.
Where you stand
You have more room than you think
A lot of instructors never look into leaving because they assume the contract is watertight. It is worth understanding what actually changed in 2025.
In Ellis and Others v John Benson Ltd, twenty driving instructors took their franchisor to the High Court. The court held that their agreements contained an implied duty of good faith and fair dealing, and that the franchisor had broken it. The instructors were entitled to treat their contracts as at an end.
Read this bit carefully. The ruling did not create a blanket rule. There is still no automatic duty of good faith in every franchise agreement. The court implied one in that case because those contracts were long term, one sided and close to an employment relationship, with heavy control on the franchisor’s side and little realistic way out.
Whether the same applies to your agreement depends on your agreement. That is a question for a solicitor, not for us and not for a web page.
What we can tell you is that instructors in that position now have somewhere to start, and that the conversation is worth having before you assume you are trapped.
The wider picture is shifting too. In 2026 the Competition and Markets Authority fined Automobile Association Developments Limited £4.2 million and ordered more than £760,000 in refunds, after finding that AA Driving School and BSM did not show learners a mandatory booking fee upfront. More than eighty thousand learners were affected. Regulators are paying attention to this industry in a way they were not five years ago.
Instructors who already made the move
“I trained with DrewMatic and I have been with Drew and the team ever since. The training, mentorship and instructor care has been massively reassuring in what has been my early career. I am extremely happy I did not take the path offered to me by one of the local big names.”
Charlotte, DrewMatic Driving Instructor
“I came here from one of those big names. I am better off, better trained and very well taken care of. I would recommend DrewMatic to anyone wanting to be a driving instructor. We all take care of each other here.”
Craig, DrewMatic Driving Instructor
The terms
What it costs to work with us
| What you pay | Cost |
|---|---|
| Weekly fee with Total Drive, first 12 months | £53 |
| Weekly fee with Total Drive, after 12 months | £43 |
| Weekly fee without Total Drive, first 12 months | £50 |
| Weekly fee without Total Drive, after 12 months | £40 |
| Percentage cut of your lessons | None |
| Fee per pupil we send you | None |
| Charged while sick or on holiday | No |
| Payable from | Once you have 10 paying pupils |
That is the whole fee. If you earn £800 this week, you keep £800. If you earn £1,200, you keep £1,200.
What joining actually looks like
No directors. No shareholders. No office overheads. We are a team of instructors, several of whom came here after a bad experience elsewhere, and several of whom came here because they did their research first.
We will not announce your arrival unless you want us to. No welcome post, no fanfare, nothing. You join, we send you work, you get on with it.
Your pupils are yours. Your contact details are yours. We have never tried to claw pupils back from an instructor who left, and we are not going to start. Instructors who move on go on good terms, and more than one has come back.
We cover Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Washington, Durham, South Shields, Peterlee, Hartlepool, Billingham, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Darlington and everything around them. There is a good chance we are already working in your patch.
Not ready for a weekly fee?
We can occasionally take instructors on a pay per pupil basis instead, for part timers or anyone testing the water. It is capped and it is case by case, so ask us rather than assuming. Most people are better off on the weekly fee once they are past a handful of new pupils a month.
Still working towards your Part 3?
We sponsor trainee licences and we supply the Part 3 training that goes with it. If you are on a pink badge and your current trainer is not delivering, changing sponsor is done by email to the DVSA and they reissue the licence free of charge. Get in touch and we will talk you through it.
Agreements and branding
We used to run on handshakes. That worked until it did not, and a small number of people took advantage of it. So we may now ask you to sign a written agreement. We say may, because circumstances differ and nothing is forced on anyone.
Branding works the same way. Most of our instructors carry DrewMatic livery and it earns its keep as a moving advert across the North East. It is not an absolute requirement. We would rather have a good instructor in an unbranded car than lose them over a decal.
You teach manual. Now what?
Switching to automatic is simpler than most people assume. Demand across the North East is growing fast and every electric car on the road is one. The market is moving whether the industry likes it or not.
We work with two driving instructor car suppliers and we can help you source an automatic. If your credit history is less than perfect, tell us. It is rarely the obstacle people expect it to be.
FAQ
Questions we get from ADIs
What is the weekly fee?
£53 a week with Total Drive or £50 without, for the first twelve months. After that it drops to £43 and £40. Nothing is payable until we have put ten paying pupils in front of you.
Do you take a cut of my lessons?
No. The weekly fee is the whole of it. What you earn is yours.
Do I keep my pupils if I leave?
Yes. Your pupils and your contact details are yours. We have never clawed pupils back and we do not intend to.
Can I get out of my current franchise agreement?
That depends entirely on what your agreement says and how you have been treated. We are not solicitors and we will not tell you that you can. What we will do is talk it through with you in confidence and point you towards proper advice. Leaving a driving school contract, looking to get out of a driving school franchise, leave a driving school franchise or switch driving school franchise? You’re in the right place for help and happiness.
Will my current school find out I have contacted you?
Not from us. Every conversation is confidential and nothing goes public unless you want it to. We don’t make grandiose announcements on facebook, and haven’t for ages, no names, we just give you the work
I am not qualified yet. Is this page for me?
No. Have a look at our driving instructor training page instead. It sets out what qualifying costs and how long it takes.
Where we are
Instructor pages for the areas we cover most. But we will provide work for you no matter which part of the North East of England that you live
Stop Paying For Someone Else’s Logo
No cut of your lessons. No charge while you are sick. No fee until you have ten paying pupils. And nobody telling you who your pupils belong to.
Call or text Clint on 07870 809 373. Confidential, no pressure, no hard sell, and no promises we cannot keep.
Send us a message
Treated in strict confidence. We will come back to you quickly.
