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.

Birmingham (Kings Heath): 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
Junctions - observation1772335
Positioning - lane discipline159084
Mirrors - change direction841184
Response to signs - road markings82034
Response to signs - traffic signs78017
Junctions - turning right46042
Reverse park - Control371237
Move off - safely340440
Control - steering330448
Maintain progress - undue hesitation320439
Move off - control320319
Judgement - meeting31092
Positioning - normal driving310171
Awareness/planning282163
Use of speed280188
Maintain progess - speed210384
Pedestrian crossing19018
Control - gears150175
Junctions - approach speed150134
Taxi/Forward Park cont15092
Signals - correctly120189
Reverse right - Control11044
Clearance / obstructions10188
Junctions - turning left9025
Junctions - cutting corners6022
Position - normal stops60103
Response to signs - traffic lights605
Following distance4038
Judgement - overtaking4025
Mirrors - change speed4080
Reverse right - Observation4077
Vehicle checks40210
Ancillary controls3037
Mirrors - signalling3081
Reverse park - Observatons3065
Taxi/Forward Park obs3012
Signals - necessary2076
Control - Footbrake1072
Control - parking brake1020
Control Stop - Promptness108
Judgement - crossing1011
Response to signs - other road users1021
Response to signs - traffic controllers100
Signals - timed1059
Control - accelerator003
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0027
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Eyesight000
Highway Code000
Precautions002
Reverse left - Control000
Reverse left - Observation000
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.