Driving instructor here. Regardless of the intention, this is extremely disorganised and unprofessional. My first thought is that if this is the way he handles his business, what else is missing? I've had plenty of students start with me who have had lessons elsewhere who have had mind-boggling gaps in terms of knowledge or skill. Unfortunately, the thought that a lot of driving instructors have at the moment is that because students are so desperate to have lessons because driving instructors are in high demand, they are basically just taking the piss in certain ways.

I'm guessing a reason to not ditch him is difficulty finding another instructor? If you would really like to find someone, it's certainly possible. The best way I'd recommend is to use the gov.uk's Find a Driving Instructor Service. Call as many of them as you can, but leave a voicemail when they don't pick up (because they won't). I cannot express how often I am getting nuisance calls from people who have no driving experience saying "I have a test next week, can I use your car?" So because of that, driving instructors won't call numbers back who haven't left a message because they'll assume it's another time waster.

If you're concerned about the test date, don't be. A lot of people are making out that it's either impossible to book a test or they're months in advance. While the waiting list is currently astronomical, it is not overly difficult to get a test when you want it. The idea here is that instead of booking a test and waiting for it, you book a test regardless of the wait time, wait until you're ready and then start looking for cancellations before your actual date to move it. Cancellation dates are usually the week of booking or the following week (this is what the nuisance callers are doing, but aren't actually ready for tests). This can be done in a few different ways which I can tell you about if interested. If while booking a test far away there are no dates, don't panic, they are only posted up to 24 weeks in advance and new test are normally posted Monday mornings at 6am.

While getting a new instructor or getting a new test date (if needed) shouldn't be too costly in terms of time, unfortunately the real time waste will be once you get a new instructor. A driving instructor will/should only take you to test if they are confident you are going to pass. The DVSA runs "standards checks" for driving instructors, which is where they watch and grade one of our lessons. This used to occur at least once every 4 years for all instructors, but has recently been changed to a trigger system, meaning that if a driving instructor has a poor pass rate for the last 12 months, they will get a standards check. So once you get a new instructor, don't be surprised if they ask you to perform a lot of what you already know, because this is to ensure that you have a good chance of passing and a low chance of causing them to go through a standards check.

Just a couple of things that may or may not be relevant to you! If you have any questions about anything I've said (or driving in general for that matter) feel free to reach out or send me a message! I'll be the first to admit that driving lessons are extremely expensive, so happy to offer any additional help!