A DRIVING coach with Shengang Driving School was disqualified and expelled from the industry for allegedly taking commissions from hotels where he had arranged for the trainees to live during driving tests.

    Responding to complaints from a trainee in Buji, Longgang District, the school said in a release Wednesday that the driving coach, surnamed Liu, had charged commissions from a Pingshan hotel, where he arranged the trainees to live and demanded rewards from trainees after completing a driving test.

    In August last year, a man identified as Xiao Hong registered for driver training at the school. Liu took him and two others for a driving test in Pingshan on March 15 and for another test on the following day.

    The three trainees paid 832 yuan (US$121) to share four rooms at the hotel which were arranged by the coach. Liu didn’t respond to their doubts that the hotel’s rates were very high.

    After Xiao failed twice at the driving test, Liu promised that Xiao could pass as long as he agreed to give him a reward. Xiao later gave 200 yuan to the other coach, who helped him complain to the examination officer, but in the third test, Xiao failed again.

    During a phone interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily, a hotel manager, surnamed Qin, said that a hotel generally offers nearly half-priced hotel rates to a driving coach. For a 188-yuan room, a coach could get an 80-yuan commission from the hotel. They shared rates with driving coaches after the trainees paid the cost.

    The coaches generally booked the rooms through WeChat and Qin would give the booking information including the coaches’ phone number to the receptionists. The receptionists would learn if the coaches had booked the rooms after he reported the phone numbers to them.

    For five rooms that each cost 188 yuan, a coach could profit 400 yuan after the 540 yuan in hotel fees was deducted, according to Qin. (Han Ximin)