robinj

Thanks for the responses. She's had a good ride this afternoon with her Dad and is already feeling much more chirpy, her confidence clearly got a bit of a battering yesterday so great to get out on a sunny afternoon and have a ride about and remember why she wants to do this!

hahaha! We can both ride bikes but to be fair Dad is ALOT more patient than I am so he would be the best person to do anything that involves trying to teach her something! I will follow at a safe distance with my mouth firmly shut!

hmm, don't think she did that, just signed the CBT certificate. Yes, time on the quiet roads with her Dad and me to build up her confidence. I am going on theory that she has the bit of paper now so am going to ignore the centre's "request/demand" she comes back for more training. Not sure I trust them anyway!

Thanks, that is what we are thinking, though her Dad will need to take her out as we'd just fight over the intercoms! Just really felt like they were only prepared for people who had already been driving for years and as that was what most of the group was, they worked to that level, not hers. Coupled with being short on time due to lack of bikes she didn't have enough time on the road. I did think sticking her in front after 5 minutes was a bit extreme and bordering on dangerous .

Interested to hear others experience and to guage whether or not I am in the wrong here. My 16yr old did her CBT yesterday. She has been riding bikes in our fields/hill for years so perfectly happy with that side of it, but obviously been 16yrs old (to the day) she had never been on the road before. There was a bit of a cluster when they got to the centre as 2 of the bikes were broken, so they were delayed for an hour or so. The others on the course were all middle aged (and car drivers). One of them could barely ride the bike and dropped it twice in the car park. When they went out to do the road bit they were short of time due to the mix up with bikes and they had to share the bikes, meaning that he took them out 2 at a time and was running quite late. I suspect he was therefore in a bit of a hurry. The instructor took them once round an Industrial Estate (with him in front) and then put her in front and promptly went up to a roundabout, followed by traffic lights onto quite a busy road. She managed ok but was pretty nervous so on a couple of times made a few mistakes. 1hr 30mins later (max, might have even been 15mins shorted than that) they were back at the centre. She got her certificate but the instructor said she clearly had no road experience and should have a bit of extra road riding training which is fair enough. HOWEVER, I would have thought that it was entirely obvious that a 16yr old would have no road experience and part of the CBT should have been working on that. I don't feel that putting her in front right away and straight into hazards etc was a particularly good idea. The course seems completely geared up to older people who have been driving cars for years and are therefore used to being on the road. I am being unreasonable in thinking they should have spent a bit more time driving around with the instructor in front and getting her used to being on a big road, OR were we totally unprepared? The instructor was very insistent that I book her a half day road training session and kept saying I should do it right away (just go round to the office now and book it). I don't have a problem with that, but I think I am going to book it somewhere else as I don't feel entirely confident in that centre. Presumably as she actually has her certificate she is perfectly legal to now go on the roads (we live in a very quiet rural area and she can do little rides with her Dad who has 35yr plus experience) and then in a few weeks I might book another session somewhere else to get her a bit more road experience.