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.

Irvine: 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 - observation828241
Junctions - turning right74155
Mirrors - change direction668275
Response to signs - road markings490102
Use of speed480193
Reverse park - Control320174
Control - steering312333
Positioning - normal driving300180
Move off - safely250315
Response to signs - traffic signs22066
Response to signs - traffic lights19241
Move off - control160323
Reverse park - Observatons14073
Clearance / obstructions12092
Judgement - crossing1208
Judgement - meeting12076
Signals - correctly100249
Awareness/planning9062
Control - gears90155
Maintain progess - speed70165
Maintain progress - undue hesitation70170
Taxi/Forward Park cont7075
Junctions - approach speed60136
Judgement - overtaking5013
Mirrors - change speed50110
Reverse right - Observation5050
Reverse right - Control4013
Junctions - cutting corners3025
Junctions - turning left3012
Taxi/Forward Park obs3018
Vehicle checks3065
Control - parking brake2014
Control - Footbrake1032
Control Stop - Promptness104
Following distance1069
Mirrors - signalling1055
Pedestrian crossing104
Positioning - lane discipline1021
Signals - timed10131
Ancillary controls016
Control - accelerator003
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0048
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Eyesight000
Highway Code000
Position - normal stops0077
Precautions004
Response to signs - other road users005
Response to signs - traffic controllers000
Reverse left - Control000
Reverse left - Observation000
Signals - necessary0074
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.