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.

Dorchester: 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 - observation467165
Response to signs - traffic lights28235
Mirrors - change direction262139
Maintain progress - undue hesitation240291
Junctions - turning right22131
Reverse park - Control210117
Move off - safely180211
Response to signs - road markings15054
Reverse park - Observatons15054
Control - steering142201
Move off - control140168
Pedestrian crossing12127
Reverse right - Observation12028
Use of speed110106
Positioning - lane discipline9240
Judgement - meeting9148
Maintain progess - speed80162
Mirrors - change speed8094
Response to signs - traffic signs8027
Clearance / obstructions7084
Control - gears60124
Signals - correctly51112
Position - normal stops5097
Taxi/Forward Park cont5047
Taxi/Forward Park obs5024
Awareness/planning4089
Junctions - cutting corners4017
Judgement - crossing3013
Reverse right - Control3040
Vehicle checks3055
Junctions - turning left2011
Signals - necessary2079
Junctions - approach speed1125
Positioning - normal driving1157
Ancillary controls1011
Control - clutch1042
Control - Footbrake1024
Following distance1033
Judgement - overtaking102
Mirrors - signalling1037
Response to signs - other road users1015
Signals - timed1069
Control - accelerator007
Control - balance000
Control - parking brake0012
Control Stop - Promptness004
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Eyesight000
Highway Code000
Precautions001
Response to signs - traffic controllers002
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.