Student demands money from instructor after failing learners licence

Both parties, who are known to the paper and Midrand police, ended up paying a visit to Midrand Police Station to try to resolve their issue. The student said that last year she paid for learner’s licence lessons with a driving instructor in Midrand.

She explained, “I paid R800 to the instructor, he gave me one lesson then took me to book a date for my learner’s, which I failed. He insisted I pay him another R650 to book another date for me, I agreed and paid him.”

She said she has since been trying to contact the instructor, but the man allegedly refuses to refund her the money and has stopped taking her calls.

When both of them went to Midrand Police Station to ask the police to intervene, the instructor agreed to pay the money but has allegedly not paid a cent, a year later. “To make it worse, I have learnt that he does not even have an office but works around Midrand,” she said.

When Midrand Reporter contacted the driving instructor he said people put pressure on the instructors to acquire driver’s and learner’s licences for them as if instructors work at a licencing department. He stated, “That girl has been trying to get my business into trouble for a long time now, she knows very well that no one can get a learner’s licence after failing.”

Midrand police confirmed that the two once brought their complaints to the police station. Police spokesperson Constable Matome Tlamela explained that police could not intervene as it was a civil matter, and there was no proof of any money exchanging hands.

Tlamela said, “We have lots of people who come to the police station after engaging with people in civil matters and they try to get the police to threaten the other person into returning their money.”

Tlamela stressed that people should avoid doing business with people who are not reputable.

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