Beware unlicensed driving schools

May 18, 2008 - 04:30

By Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- Trevor Wirsching thought he would be taking his driver's test this week.

The 17-year-old Oshawa student got his G1 last year and has been counting down the days until he is eligible to take his G2 and hit the open road.

The Province requires new drivers to wait a year between the G1 and G2 tests -- unless they take a driver's education course, which shortens the time to eight months.

That was Trevor's plan.

He wrapped up a series of classroom and in-car lessons at Oshawa's New Driver's Destination on April 7, but by the time his test date rolled around this past Tuesday he still hadn't received a certificate saying he had completed the course.

"I thought something was wrong when the school said they would mail it," his mom, Debbie Wirsching, said. "I talked to some other schools and they said they're supposed to get it the day they finish."â?¨ It turns out New Drivers Destination on Simcoe Street North isn't licensed now by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) to provide Beginner Driver Education (BDE), although they have been in the past.

MTO spokeswoman Emna Dhahak said new regulations requires all schools offering BDE to pre-register by Oct. 26, 2007, to receive a licence by Dec. 1, 2007.

New Drivers Destination missed that cut-off, and as a result is not licensed. The ministry is reviewing an application from the school to be re-licensed and will be conducting an inspection next week.

The school has stopped signing up new students but was offering the BDE course until recently.

Students who took the training after December -- like Trevor Wirsching -- are out of luck when it comes to their certification.

"Those students who successfully completed prior to the requirement for a licence, we will work to get them a certificate if the school gets licensed," Ms. Dhahak said. "If this school, since December, has started offering classes prior to being licensed we are not in a position to provide these students with a certificate. This school has been advised on a number of occasions that they cannot offer BDE courses until they are licensed."

Ms. Dhahak said New Drivers Destination has not been charged and that no penalties have been laid because the school has told MTO it is not offering BDE classes until it is licensed, and the ministry has not confirmed otherwise.

The Wirschings think their situation is proof enough.

"This is a big disappointment for a kid," Ms. Wirsching said. "He wasted his time taking the class and I wasted my money."

She spent $368 plus tax on her son's course and hasn't been able to get a refund from the school.

Marriam Mahmood, an employee at New Drivers Destination, said the school has been around for 10 years and confirmed that students have taken the BDE course since December.

She said they have to wait for the Province to inspect them before they can hand out certificates earned in recent months but said all students who took the course will be getting their accreditation.

"We have been waiting two months for the ministry to come do this inspection," she said. "As soon as they do, we will be issuing the certificates to everyone. We have tried to explain this to the parents but they don't want to hear it, they want the certificates now."

Problems with driving schools are nothing new.

In 2007, the ministry removed 22 businesses from its list of approved driving schools.

More recently, eight GTA driving schools lost their licences in February after an investigation confirmed they were issuing Beginner Driver Education certificates to students who had not completed the training.

More than 100,000 students graduate from a ministry-approved Beginner Driver Education course annually. There were 418 licensed Beginner Driver Education course providers in 2007, working out of 663 locations in Ontario. There were also 278 high schools delivering ministry-approved courses.

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