Everything your driving school needs. In one place. Lesson Diary.
You're the instructor, the scheduler and the accountant. Lesson Diary brings your diary, pupils, bookings and payments together, giving you one simple way to run your driving school.
No credit card required · Cancel anytime · Already have an account?
"I already use my phone's calendar"
A calendar tells you where to be. It doesn't run your business.
Your calendar shows where you need to be. Lesson Diary keeps everything around your lessons organised — pupils, payments, bookings and reminders — without juggling multiple apps.
| Phone calendar | Lesson Diary | |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils can book a lesson themselves | ||
| Automatic lesson reminders sent to pupils | ||
| Tracks who's paid and who owes you | ||
| Warns you when two lessons overlap | ||
| Keeps progress notes against each pupil | ||
| Runs a DVSA-accurate mock test with live pass/fail* | ||
| Exportable records when you do your tax return |
Starts at £9.99/month — less than the cost of one missed lesson.
*Fill in mock tests while parked with the engine off — not while driving.
So how does it actually run your business?
One week on the diary
Say you work five days a week — here's what the diary handles so you don't have to.
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1 Mon
A pupil books — you just approve
They pick a free slot on your booking page themselves and the request lands on your diary — approve it in a tap. Or add the lesson yourself in seconds. No texts back and forth.
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2 Tue
Lesson done — mark it paid
One tap logs the lesson as paid. Your Total Paid and who's-still-due update on the dashboard straight away.
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3 Wed
A clash gets flagged
Two pupils sliding into the same slot? The diary rings that lesson amber so you catch it before you drive off.
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4 Thu
Reminders go out for you
The day before each lesson, every pupil gets an automatic reminder — time, pickup spot and a link to the details. You send nothing.
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5 Fri
See exactly who owes you
One list shows every unpaid lesson and the total outstanding. No scrolling back through a calendar adding it up.
Same week — bookings approved in a tap, clashes caught, reminders sent, every payment tracked.
Stop driving across town for one lesson
Draw your coverage area on a map. Online bookings outside it get blocked automatically — every lesson stays close enough to be worth the drive.
See the gaps before they cost you
A free hour between two lessons is lost income. We flag it on your diary so you can fill it — or bin it and go home early.
Open the app
Your whole day, before the first lesson
Who you're teaching, who's asked to book, who still owes you and the next test coming up. On your phone between lessons, or on the big screen at home.
Then your week. Clashes in amber, free time in green.
Every lesson and every day off in one diary, so a double-booking gets caught before a pupil turns up for it.
Mock tests, marked the DVSA way*
Grouped like the DL25. Pass or fail, live, as you tap.
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Familiar, not another form to learn
Grouped the way you already think about a test — Manoeuvres, Junctions, Judgement, all of it — so there's nothing new to learn.
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Pass or fail, worked out for you
Live fault tally as you go — 16 minors or a single serious fault and it's a fail, exactly like the real thing. No mental maths mid-lesson.
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Feeds straight into their record
Every fault becomes part of the pupil's actual skill progress — no double entry, no separate spreadsheet.
*Fill in mock tests while parked with the engine off — not while driving. Unlike a DVSA examiner, an instructor is legally a supervising driver and can't use a phone or tablet on the move.
Your booking page, ready in 60 seconds
Stop playing phone-tag. Turn on online booking, share your link or QR code, and wake up to confirmed lessons on your calendar — without lifting a finger.
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Share anywhere
Get a unique public link and QR code. Drop it on your socials, website, car signage — pupils book in a tap.
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Stay in your patch
Draw one or more coverage areas on a UK map. Pupils outside your area can't book — no awkward declines.
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You stay in control
Every request lands in your Booking Inbox. Approve, defer or decline in a single tap — your diary, your rules.
Sell a block of lessons. We keep the tab.
A pupil pays you upfront for ten hours, or twenty, however you sell it. Lesson Diary holds that balance and ticks a bit off every time they book, so you're never chasing "how many has she got left" in your head or on a scrap of paper.
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The balance updates itself
Book a lesson from their block and the hours come off automatically. No spreadsheet, no mental maths.
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Your pupil sees it too
They can check their own balance any time in their portal — fewer "how many lessons have I got left?" texts for you.
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A nudge before it runs dry
You get a heads-up when a pupil is down to their last lesson, so topping up is a conversation, not a surprise.
Lesson credit
7 hrs left
£280.00 available · includes 1 hr free
Pupil portal
A private view for every pupil
Every booked lesson gets a private link for that pupil — no account or app needed. They see your contact details, their full lesson history, and can cancel the one they're on straight from the page.
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Private by design
Each link works for the one pupil it was generated for, nobody else.
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Instant cancellation alerts
You're notified the moment a lesson is cancelled.
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You stay in control
Cancelling is all a pupil can do — rescheduling and everything else still goes through you.
Money
Paid lessons add themselves up
Every lesson marked paid lands in your income. Log fuel, insurance and mileage in a few taps, and see your profit quarter by quarter. MTD-ready record-keeping, without a spreadsheet in sight.
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Income, counted for you
Paid lessons roll into your tax year and each quarter. Nothing to type twice.
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Expenses in seconds
Fuel, car costs, insurance, franchise fees and mileage, logged from your phone.
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One download for your accountant
A CSV and a one-page summary laid out to the self-employment pages.
Frequently asked questions
Getting started
What is Lesson Diary?
Lesson Diary is the software UK driving instructors use to run the business side of teaching. Your diary, your pupils, online bookings, progress notes and payments all sit in one place, so your evenings go on teaching and planning instead of chasing texts and totting up what you are owed.
Is this service UK-specific?
Yes. Lesson Diary is built for UK-based instructors: the diary, the DL25-style mock tests and the Making Tax Digital record-keeping all follow UK practice, and pupils book and pay in pounds.
How do I sign up?
Click Sign up on the homepage and follow the prompts to create your account. You can start using Lesson Diary straight away with free limited access, no card required.
Do I need any special hardware?
No. Lesson Diary runs in any modern browser, and there are iOS and Android apps for existing subscribers, so you can work from the car park as easily as from a desk.
Is my data secure?
Yes. The site runs over HTTPS, and every pupil portal link works only for the pupil it was generated for. Our Privacy Policy covers what we store and why.
Features
Can pupils book lessons online themselves?
Yes. Every instructor gets a unique public booking page and QR code. Pupils choose a date, time and pickup location, and every request lands in your Booking Inbox for you to approve, defer or decline.
Can I limit bookings to my local coverage area?
Yes. You can draw one or more coverage areas on a UK map. Pupils whose pickup location falls outside your drawn zones will not be able to book — so you never end up travelling further than you want.
Is there a mobile app?
Yes. Lesson Diary is available on iOS and Android for existing subscribers — check your diary, log progress notes and see who owes you, right from your pocket. It works with no signal too, syncing automatically once you're back in coverage. If it isn't live in the app stores for you yet, you can request access and we'll email you the install link.
Does the mobile app work without signal?
Yes. Test routes often run through the weakest signal you'll find all week. On the mobile app you can keep viewing your diary and add a lesson, a new pupil or a payment with no bars at all — it's saved on your phone the moment you tap save. The instant you're back in coverage, everything sends itself in the background. Nothing to remember, nothing lost.
Can I take payments in-app?
Not yet, by design. Lesson Diary tracks who has paid and how — bank transfer, cash or card — but does not process card payments itself, so we never take a cut of your lesson money. Most solo instructors already collect fees by bank transfer with no processing fee at all, so we default new payment records to bank transfer and have held off building in-app card processing (and the ~1.5–1.9% fee that comes with it) until there is clear demand for it.
Pricing
How much does it cost?
We offer a flat monthly fee of £9.99, with no hidden charges or percentages taken from your lesson money. Sign up and get a taste of it free, no card required, then subscribe whenever you're ready for a 14-day free trial.
Do you offer a free trial?
Yes — a 14-day free trial with no commitment, whenever you're ready for it. You can also register and start using Lesson Diary straight away with free limited access, no card required, before you ever start the trial.
Reminders
Can I send manual reminders?
Yes. Reminders go out automatically, and you can also send one by hand from the diary page. All plans come with email reminders.
Can I send SMS reminders?
Not yet. Reminders are sent by email, and we do not currently support SMS.
I want to send reminders for all upcoming lessons at once. How can I do this?
Open the Dashboard and use the Send Reminders button in the Upcoming Lessons section. Sending reminders in bulk is available on the Standard plan and above.
Support
How can I get support?
Email support@lessondiary.co.uk or use the Contact page. There are guides in the app as well, and support is available around the clock.
How do I report a bug or suggest a feature?
Email support@lessondiary.co.uk for anything that is broken, and it@lessondiary.co.uk for ideas.
Take Lesson Diary with you
Check your diary, log progress notes and see who owes you from the car park — the same Lesson Diary, built for your pocket.
Want access?
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Access is limited to existing Lesson Diary subscribers. If you don't have an account yet, create an account first.
Teach anywhere. Sync when you're back.
Some of your best test routes have the worst signal. On the mobile app, you don't have to worry about it — keep viewing your diary, logging progress notes and recording payments with no bars at all. The moment your phone reconnects, everything sends itself. Nothing to remember, nothing lost.
- Add a lesson, a pupil or a payment record with zero signal
- Automatic sync the second you're back in coverage — no button to press
- Every entry keeps the time you actually made it, not the time it happened to sync
Jamie A. — 9:00am
Roundabouts, independent driving
Payment — £32 cash
Marked paid at 9:52am
Ready to get your evenings back?
Get started free today — no credit card required, subscribe whenever you're ready.