Pilot Terms for Instructors

These terms are between you and Phil Cowley, sole trader, trading as Driving Instructor Assistant, 6 Middle Budleigh Meadow, Newton Abbot, TQ12 1UH ("we"). They apply while you test the Driving Instructor Assistant app and web portal ("the app") during the pilot. They sit alongside the Privacy Notice and the Data Processing Agreement (for independent instructors, and for Support Driving School Ltd and Cowley's School of Motoring as schools).

1. It's a test version

• The app is pre-release software. It will have bugs, features will change, and some days it may be slow or unavailable.
• Keep running your usual system (for example Total Drive) side by side. Treat your usual system as your official record of lessons, payments and pupil progress until we both agree otherwise. Nothing from Total Drive is imported.
• There are no card payments in the app during the pilot. Payments you take (cash, bank transfer or your own card reader) are recorded by hand. Check the balances against your own records.
• The pilot is free until the app goes on general release. For instructors at Support Driving School and Cowley's School of Motoring it stays free after that too. It runs from October 2026 until the app goes on general release, and we'll tell you before that happens.

2. Who you can add

• Week 1: yourself, plus test pupils using your own or your family's email addresses, with their agreement.
• Week 2 onwards: up to 2 or 3 real pupils each who have agreed to try it. Tell them it's a test app. Point them to the learner pilot guide (/pilot/learners) and the Privacy Notice.
• Under-18s: fine, but make sure the pupil understands what the app is. If a parent pays or supports their lessons, the parent should know too. Switch "They can see progress" off for a parent unless the pupil has said yes.
• Don't add anyone who hasn't agreed, and remove anyone who changes their mind (tell us and we'll delete their record).

3. Using it responsibly

• Never use the app while driving or supervising a pupil who is driving. Use it parked, before or after the lesson. Elly and voice notes are for when the car is stopped.
• Keep notes factual and about the driving. Don't record health or other sensitive information (for example anxiety, medical conditions, disabilities, religion) in notes, voice notes or messages unless it's genuinely needed for safe teaching. Even then, keep it brief. Notes may be read by the pupil's school owner and summarised by the AI assistant.
• Feedback screenshots show whatever is on your screen. Crop out or avoid pupil details where you can.
• Keep your phone locked with a passcode or Face ID, and keep your email account secure. The code to sign in to the app goes to your email.
• Bank details: enter only your own business account. If you notice bank details changed that you didn't change, tell us straight away.
• Only use the app for running your driving lessons.

4. Your pupils' information

• Independent instructors: you are the controller of your pupils' information. We process it for you under the Data Processing Agreement.
• Support Driving School and Cowley's School of Motoring instructors: your school is the controller. Your school owner can see all your pupils, diaries, payments and messages in the app.
• If a pupil asks to see or delete their information, forward it to privacy@drivinginstructorapps.co.uk the same day. We'll help.
• If you think something has gone wrong (a lost phone, a message sent to the wrong person, something you can see that you shouldn't), tell us straight away by the same email.

5. Feedback

• Please use Send feedback in the app (More screen) for bugs, ideas and anything confusing. Phil reads all of it.
• We may email or phone you to ask about your experience. You don't have to answer.
• You agree we can use your feedback and ideas to improve the app, without paying you for them. We won't publish your name or your pupils' details without asking.

6. No warranty, and limits

• The app is provided "as is" for testing, with no promise that it's error-free, always available or fit for any particular purpose.
• You remain responsible for your own lessons, bookings, payments, pupil records and professional duties (for example DVSA and insurance requirements).
• To the extent the law allows, we're not liable for lost income, missed or double-booked lessons, or wrong balances that come from using pilot software. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't allow to be limited. Our obligations on data protection are in the Data Processing Agreement.

7. Ending the pilot

• You can stop at any time. Just tell us. We can end the pilot, or your place in it, with reasonable notice. We'll give at least 14 days' notice unless there's a security reason to act faster.

• When the pilot ends, or when you leave it, you choose what happens to your information:

  1. Carry on with the full version, if you agree terms with us then. Your information stays as it is.
  2. Get a copy: we'll send you an export of your pupils' records (a JSON file per pupil for now) within 30 days of your request.
  3. Delete: we'll delete or anonymise your and your pupils' information within 30 days, except money records we're asked to keep for accounts. Those are kept against "Erased pupil" for 6 years, or handed to you and then deleted, whichever you prefer.
• If we don't hear from you within 60 days of the pilot ending, we'll delete the information as in option 3, after reminding you twice by email.
• At Support and Cowley's, the school decides what happens to its pupils' information. A franchisee who leaves keeps their pupils. We'll work with the school to hand the franchisee their pupils' records.

8. General

• We may update these terms during the pilot and will email you about any change.
• These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
• Contact: privacy@drivinginstructorapps.co.uk (privacy and data). Pilot questions go to Phil directly.