A £3 fee became the UK’s first consumer-law fine.

On 15 April 2026, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ordered AA Driving School and BSM Driving School, both owned by Automobile Association Developments Limited, to refund learner drivers and pay a £4.2 million fine. The regulator found that a mandatory booking fee was left out of the upfront price for lessons and added only at checkout between April and December 2025. More than 80,000 learners are due refunds totalling over £760,000, about £9 each on average.

It was the first fine the CMA imposed for breaking consumer law using the direct enforcement powers it gained under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The fine would have been £7 million; the company received a 40% reduction for admitting the infringement and settling. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said that if a fee is mandatory, “it must be included in the price from the very start – not added at checkout”.

Why a small fee got a large fine

Drip pricing works because comparison happens early and payment happens late. A learner comparing hourly lesson prices sees the lower number; by the time the unavoidable fee appears, they have chosen an instructor, picked times and entered details. Few people restart the search for a few pounds, so the fee rarely has to compete.

The penalty is many times the refunds, and that is the point. Refunding only the fee would leave drip pricing as a free option: keep the money from anyone who does not complain. A fine that can reach 10% of global turnover changes that arithmetic. The CMA has since opened drip-pricing investigations into Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School, which are allegations under investigation, not findings.

What to do

The CMA says affected AA and BSM customers do not need to act: refunds go automatically to the original payment card, or by cheque if that is not possible. For any booking, compare the total at checkout with the price you were first shown. If a charge you could not avoid appeared only at the end, screenshot both screens; that record supports a complaint to the business and a report to the CMA.