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.

Nelson: 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 - observation9623213
Response to signs - traffic signs73031
Control - steering6111442
Maintain progess - speed472434
Reverse park - Control462153
Mirrors - change direction45762
Maintain progress - undue hesitation432439
Clearance / obstructions4010285
Response to signs - road markings40063
Judgement - meeting358179
Positioning - normal driving332229
Move off - control273345
Use of speed250134
Move off - safely241250
Control - gears233254
Response to signs - traffic lights23238
Awareness/planning223117
Pedestrian crossing21434
Junctions - turning right191107
Junctions - approach speed173139
Judgement - crossing13412
Junctions - turning left13141
Signals - necessary13048
Mirrors - change speed121289
Reverse right - Control12030
Reverse right - Observation11149
Reverse park - Observatons8081
Vehicle checks60112
Junctions - cutting corners5184
Positioning - lane discipline5025
Response to signs - other road users4310
Taxi/Forward Park cont4077
Taxi/Forward Park obs4016
Control - accelerator3117
Judgement - overtaking302
Mirrors - signalling3073
Position - normal stops30183
Response to signs - traffic controllers300
Control - parking brake2019
Signals - correctly2084
Signals - timed20112
Control - Footbrake1170
Control - clutch1034
Control Stop - Promptness105
Eyesight100
Following distance1049
Ancillary controls006
Control - balance000
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
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.