BIG TOM Driving School Reviews 45

Never rushed
Tom always gives his students the choice of what they want to cover and where they want to go as long as time permits
Explains everything in a considerate manner
Flexible with bookings
Excellent local knowledge
Loves his job and seeing his students progress

Highly Recommend
Just an all-round wonderful bloke

- Train Hard, Fight Easy

From the very first lesson I was on the road practising to drive, having never had a driving lesson before, and I progressed really well. Tom's professionalism enabled me to learn without constant doubt or interruption, and for that I am grateful. Highly recommend.

Big Tom driving school was a massive help to me in sorting a mock test. My call was answered and Tom got back to me swiftly, and we arranged a mock test. It was crucial for me to have a mock test in the Boston Driving test centre to get prepared, and he accommodated this. The mock test was great help, highlighting what I needed to work on in preparation for the driving test. He also gave me a lot of tips regarding that specific driving centre, printed out a lot of information regarding the test to help me too. And was even kind enough to drop be back at the train station when we finished. His car was easy to operate, and had lots of additional gadgets to see around the car easily.

I’d had around 5 or 6 lessons with another instructor and really couldn’t get the hang of driving. I was constantly stalling, found junctions really difficult, and generally wasn’t looking forward to lessons. I decided to try one lesson with Tom, and straight away his approach made me feel relaxed and confident. In that very first lesson I was able to successfully navigate junctions, roundabouts, and traffic lights – things I’d never managed before! I walked away feeling genuinely happy and excited for more lessons with Tom. Highly recommend!

I was a very nervous learner driver but I passed first time with help from Tom. He is very knowledgeable, patient and friendly. He offered practical support but also empathised with the stress I was feeling and would adapt the lessons based on my confidence/stress levels.

Tom got me from not being able to move a car to driving confidently in a short course. Tom was always patient, understanding and punctual. Would recommend 100%. Every lesson was to my pace and i never felt rushed.

Tom was a very patient instructor who gave me the confidence and knowledge to pass my test with ease. I would fully recommend Tom to anyone who is nervous about learning to drive

Tom was fantastic for the entire intensive course. He made sure that we went through anything I was having difficulties with and helped to get rid of any errors. He was always very friendly and I felt very comfortable in the car with him. I would absolutely recommend him to anyone wanting to learn to drive as within 2 months of me starting my course I passed my driving test which was only delayed due to longer waiting times for an available test. Thank you very much Tom!

Tom is a great instructor who helped me reach a point where I can pass my test comfortable.

I have all the skills necessary and in my first test was on track to no minors or majors until I messed up right at the end. That was entirely on me and does not reflect Tom as an instructor and am confident that in my second attempt I will perform just as well.

In addition to gaining the skills i need I also just want to mention how Tom worked with and figured out ways for me to think about things that may have gone against the norm. I am overly rigid in the way I think about things, if I don't have each step of something fully understood and rationalised in my head it confuses me a bit. Once he figured out how to explain things in a way that worked for how I think everything just clicked into place.

Top shelf instructor I do recommend for anyone interested in doing intensive courses in the area.

My daughter has just passed her test first time doing an intensive course with Tom! No previous driving experience and very nervous and passed in less than 2 weeks! Could not recommend enough! My daughter is very anxious and said how lovely tom was and made her feel very at ease! Thanks so much Tom

Tom is a very patient and kind instructor, he is happy to answer any query you have. I passed in less than 2 weeks with very very little driving experience/knowledge beforehand. I wouldn’t recommend anyone more!

Just like to thank Tom on getting me through my course quick and efficiently. Passed within 3 weeks of starting with no previous driving experience. Great teacher can't thank you enough.

I have not done any driving. An hour driving lesson was booked so I can ascertain whether I would prefer driving manual versus automatic which I have been learning with in London.

I absolutely was made to feel like I was stupid. To be honest I suspect this might have to do with ethnicity. Immediately I got into the car , all I got was negativity , discouragement and condescending tone of interrogation mansplaining what I could not do.

If you are black, just be weary because I was definitely not made to feel like I was barely being tolerated. I won’t go into details but this was a disappointing and demeaning experience for me I have not felt this way in a while to be very much aware that an experience might largely be based on the fact that I am black.

Hi Tom, thank you for responding. I want to respond to your response. Please do seek legal advice as you have stated or shall I say threaten. How I feel with your attitude and tone towards me and your line of questioning is my perception and my perception is that this was racially motivated. While you seek a redress please ask your lawyer if you are allowed to record me without my permission and prior awareness that I was being recorded.

Furthermore, at no point did I tell you how long I have been driving automatic for and whether or not my experience was limited. I clearly in my email to you on first contact told you when my theory was expiring. Furthermore, I also stated I wanted to sort things out before the end. None of this is new information. Equally, I did not discuss my availability or unavailability at any point, you made assumptions there as well.

Given you have made a recording of me without my awareness or permission- I want your lawyer’s opinion on that and at no point in my correspondence with you was I informed of this.

Your response to me and behaviour towards me has been appallingly. And my perception remains that your behaviour toward me was racially motivated . I am black and I refused to be ashamed of that. You were negative throughout my interaction with you and you made several assumptions.

My experience with you has been traumatising and I have been affected emotionally and psychologically since morning because of my interactions with you today. When I left I was left in tears for several hours because of my interaction with you and how you made me feel with your interrogations. To now know that you have recorded me without my awareness , permission or you even informing me has left me even more traumatised of feeling violated. I will not be bullied or silenced with your threat of lawyer. I have taken screenshot of your response also.

I hope you are aware of the Data Protection Act and its eight principles as well as the protocol to fair processes as a business or individual. Equally ICO stance with regarding what you have divulge in your response below.

Finally, I would like to know you meant by the attention of others- what others - if I am making assumptions I would presume from your write up that you mean the other driving instructors in the area so this would seem more like a threat to sideline me with others (driving instructors ) in the area .

But I won’t want to make assumptions on that so I am asking for the full clarification on that statement.

Updated 2/3/24

This is an update to your new response- at no point did I write my review as malicious but rather my perception of all that took place. The fact is you are attempting to gaslight me via your responses with threat of lethal and independent action ( as you put it). I am black and proud of this but you have continuously been dismissive of your actions or how you made feel that day.

You took 7 minutes recording in your own words and at no point did you mention any recording in my prior interaction with you via email or throughout the 7 minutes in person.

I repeat this is not a malicious review as I did not know you prior to this encounter or interaction. Since that day I have been apprehensive on driving because of my experience with you.

I would have appreciated equality and diversity and at no point was I disrespectful to you. I want to state that I did tell you my intentions on my driving - I have my email interaction with you as a proof. You state my review of my perception of the whole experience is unfounded , malicious and false with 7 minutes recording to prove this but you want your own narrative of the situation to be absolute. I am more curious about your independent action towards me.

I would like to think there is a learning here to improve your practice so you are more culturally/ethnically aware of any and all bias in your attitude and responses.

As an instructor you have a responsibility to notify people who enter your car that they are being recorded for which you failed to do so in a whole 7minutes. I hope that you put measures in place regarding this.

Very help and clam I would definitely recommend Tom to a lot more people thank you so much for helping me pass

Tom was amazing! I passed first time 😊
Tom showed amazing patience and reassurance during my time with him. Exactly what I needed to get through. The thing that separates Tom from the rest is that he teaches you how to drive safely after you’ve passed, rather than just teaching you how to pass the test.

Honestly great instructor, cannot recommended him enough!

Wow! What a fantastic driving instructor Tom is. I was never a confident driver but with Tom that all changed, it had been a year since I failed my test and in the 20 hour course Tom got me exactly where I needed to be, a confident, ready, safe driver, I couldnt be more grateful to him. He helped me with any bad habits I'd picked up, he was so easy to talk too, patient and he knows exactly what he's doing! Brilliant instructor.
Thank you Tom for helping me achieve what I honestly never thought I could!

I couldn’t recommend tom enough, so patient and relaxing to drive with, definitely felt at ease driving with Tom. I’ve never been confident with driving but driving with Tom brought confidence I didn’t know I had. I passed within two weeks using his driving course and am absolutely over the moon with the experience I received.

Big thanks tom big tom My driving experience with big Tom was very good, i passed my test first time. I found Tom to be very pleasant and flexible with the learning on his course, i would highly recommend big tom

Tom made my learning to drive experience really enjoyable. He help me learn in a way that i was comfortable with and that's what helped me pass first time. I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone but Tom.

I did a 40h course with Tom he was very helpful and helped me get my driving ability to a good standard which got me to pass my test on the first run his mock tests are very accurate. He is very patient and will try explained things in different ways to help you understand anyone looking to do lessons I recommend Tom