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 (Shirley): 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 - observation15710339
Response to signs - road markings116235
Mirrors - change direction8010199
Maintain progess - speed750738
Response to signs - traffic signs73037
Response to signs - traffic lights59225
Junctions - turning right58079
Positioning - normal driving541241
Move off - safely540492
Control - steering524340
Reverse park - Control424302
Maintain progress - undue hesitation330481
Reverse park - Observatons320104
Mirrors - change speed251215
Use of speed250248
Awareness/planning221201
Judgement - crossing18227
Clearance / obstructions173140
Move off - control173372
Judgement - meeting17181
Positioning - lane discipline152104
Pedestrian crossing14031
Signals - correctly140107
Position - normal stops110175
Taxi/Forward Park cont101133
Junctions - turning left10021
Reverse right - Observation10049
Junctions - cutting corners7178
Reverse right - Control6050
Vehicle checks60239
Judgement - overtaking508
Control - gears4081
Signals - timed40130
Taxi/Forward Park obs4040
Junctions - approach speed31100
Control Stop - Promptness308
Control - parking brake2020
Eyesight200
Following distance1140
Ancillary controls1021
Control - Footbrake1053
Response to signs - other road users1021
Signals - necessary10123
Control - accelerator000
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0023
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Highway Code000
Mirrors - signalling00220
Precautions005
Response to signs - traffic controllers000
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.