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.

Durham: 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
Response to signs - road markings1582139
Mirrors - change direction14326364
Use of speed1417490
Junctions - observation11949248
Response to signs - traffic signs1086168
Move off - control9616742
Reverse park - Control924393
Response to signs - traffic lights871060
Move off - safely7810848
Maintain progess - speed720719
Maintain progress - undue hesitation690754
Positioning - normal driving664399
Judgement - meeting5721237
Reverse park - Observatons521170
Clearance / obstructions4127352
Control - steering3837574
Reverse right - Observation34078
Signals - correctly340249
Junctions - turning right312129
Mirrors - change speed231230
Control - gears210207
Awareness/planning203146
Following distance180183
Mirrors - signalling170613
Taxi/Forward Park cont162160
Junctions - cutting corners161107
Positioning - lane discipline15283
Judgement - crossing141216
Response to signs - other road users14036
Position - normal stops130206
Reverse right - Control11044
Taxi/Forward Park obs8130
Response to signs - traffic controllers705
Pedestrian crossing566
Vehicle checks53211
Control - clutch4079
Signals - necessary40152
Judgement - overtaking3215
Control - Footbrake3186
Junctions - approach speed31104
Signals - timed31168
Ancillary controls3025
Control - parking brake2131
Junctions - turning left2152
Control Stop - Promptness1010
Control - accelerator0011
Control - balance000
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Eyesight000
Highway Code000
Precautions005
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.