I had been recommended an independent instructor but went with Bill Plant (West Didsbury, Manchester) as I had hoped we'd be able to purchase lessons by block. I was also impressed that they had been voted Best Driving School this year. My son had over 60 hours of lessons from December to August running up to his test (which sadly ended up being postponed by the test centre). Two weeks before his test his instructor (to whom we'd paid well over £2000 by then) contacted him to say that he didn't feel he was 100% ready and suggested he cancel his test! We were so shocked and he was of course immensely disappointed. We hadn't kept a record of lessons and I asked several times how many he'd had but his instructor for some reason seemed reluctant to tell me. It seemed like the time had come to move on to a new instructor,if only to get a second opinion. Bill Plant however said they weren't able to provide one, which I found surprising, so it meant we had to look elsewhere. He has just had his first lesson (one of 5 running up to his new test date) with his new instructor and what a difference! He is much calmer and more pragmatic and believes that our son is more than capable of taking his test. What is more, we were able to pay for the 5 lessons in a block for which we received a receipt (unlike the £80 cash demanded by the Bill Plant instructor before each lesson) and as soon as he returned received by email a self reflective account of the lesson. Suffice it to say we are really disappointed with Bill Plant's instructor. Of course we had no idea at the time not knowing what to expect, but it is clear that he was stretching out the lessons.