Learners lose £164k as driving school shuts down

Documents show NxtGen Driving Academy, which was based in Stowmarket but taught students across the region, owes hundreds of thousands of pounds

Hundreds of learner drivers have been left more than £164,000 out of pocket after a driving school closed down and are "unlikely" to get their money back, an insolvency firm has said.

NxtGen Driving Academy, part of NG Driving Group Ltd, taught students across the East of England but ceased trading on 3 November.

Documents seen by the BBC show that, before the firm was shut down, 399 customers had paid the company for driving lessons that will not be fulfilled.

A spokesperson for NxtGen already apologised for "any inconvenience and loss" customers might experience but said it "had no choice" but to close.

NxtGen appointed the liquidator, AMS Business Recovery Limited, which expects the company to formally be put into liquidation on Thursday.

In a letter sent to creditors, which has also been seen by the BBC, the liquidator warned that students would likely be left out of pocket.

"Any funds recovered from the company's assets will be distributed in accordance with UK insolvency law," the firm said.

"Based on present information, unsecured creditors, such as customers who have paid deposits for lessons, are unlikely to receive a distribution."

Parent Hollie Newton said her son Toby was "devastated" after realising he had lost £1,200 to the company

Hollie Newton said her 18-year-old son Toby Newton paid £1,200 for an intense driving course which was due to start the day the company went bust.

"I was horrified, and he was devastated and felt really disappointed, let down, and like he had been completely conned," said the 49-year-old, speaking to the BBC.

"It had taken him a good three months of working 10-hour shifts to earn that kind of money from what was his first job.

"I don't think any mother would want her son to feel the way he feels – his head went down and he did not really respond to any interactions I tried to have with him."

Learner driver Toby Newton was due to start his driving lessons on the day the company closed down

Clare Doughty, 41, from Ipswich, said her daughter Ella, 18, paid NxtGen £1,700 for lessons she, too, will never have.

"At first I didn't realise the significance and impact of it, and then it dawned on me that we could be a risk of not getting this money back, so she was very upset," she said.

"I felt guilty because it was me that said she should pay that amount of money all in one go because I naively thought there would not be a risk this could happen.

"We both still hold out hope we will get that money back, but it seems that is not going to be a possibility - it is absolutely sickening and I am very cross."

Mum Clare Doughty told the BBC she held out hope her daughter would one day get her money back

NxtGen Driving Academy described itself as "one of the fastest growing driving schools in East Anglia".

Instructors were based in Suffolk, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Sussex, North Wales and Cheshire.

Some of the instructors were employed directly by the company, while others ran their own franchises.

In addition to learners, HMRC is also owed in the region of £180,000, suppliers and service providers more than £45,000, and the firm's 19 employees more than £33,000, according to the company's statement of affairs.

One of the firm's employees, who did not wish to be named, told the BBC she had turned down a new job at a different employer weeks before NxtGen shut down.

"I felt betrayed because I was loyal to that company and I think the way this has been handled is absolutely disgusting," she said.

"We've got families but eight weeks before Christmas they have done a toilet on us from a great height, so it is devastating."