Turn evidence into useful practice

Look at the skills behind the faults.

Choose a test centre to explore recorded fault categories. These counts can help structure a conversation about observation, control and planning alongside your own lesson feedback.

Understand the count

A single test can record several faults, including more than one type. Counts are not numbers of failed tests or your chance of committing a fault. The attachment does not supply matching test denominators for a fault-rate calculation.

Keep the dates visible

We use explicitly labelled January and February 2026 rows in DVSA’s July 2026 response. Later and unlabelled repeated blocks are excluded. A centre may have only one of these months; missing observations are not zero.

Practise the full syllabus

Use the figures alongside feedback from a qualified instructor. A recorded category does not identify a test route, exact junction or guaranteed manoeuvre. Historical category names are retained, including legacy labels.

Reset

313 unambiguously matched statistical centres. The source contains 314 named centre records; unmatched names remain in the downloadable data.

Barnstaple: January 2026 and February 2026

Sorted by serious-fault count, then dangerous-fault count. The driving-fault column is a separate severity category.

Published fault categorySeriousDangerousDriving faults
Mirrors - change direction9412163
Response to signs - traffic signs85680
Junctions - observation7130193
Awareness/planning50683
Response to signs - road markings40144
Use of speed390155
Reverse park - Control345154
Move off - control272301
Control - steering262267
Response to signs - traffic lights251037
Move off - safely242398
Maintain progess - speed240531
Positioning - normal driving234154
Reverse park - Observatons23082
Judgement - meeting213153
Maintain progress - undue hesitation210500
Junctions - turning right20163
Reverse right - Observation20038
Judgement - crossing161021
Mirrors - change speed11284
Position - normal stops10077
Signals - correctly91173
Control - Footbrake8121
Following distance8197
Control - gears80110
Junctions - cutting corners7139
Response to signs - other road users7113
Mirrors - signalling60445
Clearance / obstructions5395
Taxi/Forward Park cont5157
Pedestrian crossing4111
Positioning - lane discipline4054
Reverse right - Control4019
Junctions - approach speed2160
Control - parking brake2018
Signals - necessary20134
Vehicle checks11120
Ancillary controls101
Taxi/Forward Park obs1033
Control - accelerator000
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0012
Control Stop - Promptness0014
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Eyesight000
Highway Code000
Judgement - overtaking001
Junctions - turning left0015
Precautions007
Response to signs - traffic controllers000
Reverse left - Control000
Reverse left - Observation000
Signals - timed0079
Turn in road - Control000
Turn in road - Observations000

Source and reproducible data

DVSA FOI response 2606-112694 and Annex H, published 1 July 2026. Our download preserves the source categories, per-month counts, original-file checksum and exclusions. Crown copyright information is reused under the default Open Government Licence; no individual test or candidate records are included.