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.

Southend-on-Sea: 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 - observation15833288
Junctions - turning right1523181
Response to signs - road markings83173
Response to signs - traffic lights78163
Mirrors - change direction7422142
Positioning - normal driving702225
Response to signs - traffic signs67119
Control - steering5313441
Reverse park - Control481276
Judgement - meeting435159
Maintain progess - speed400312
Clearance / obstructions3115241
Judgement - crossing301434
Mirrors - change speed290211
Maintain progress - undue hesitation260492
Pedestrian crossing25268
Move off - control242383
Junctions - turning left24021
Move off - safely192324
Awareness/planning183163
Use of speed160149
Reverse right - Observation14065
Taxi/Forward Park obs14036
Reverse park - Observatons130125
Junctions - cutting corners12081
Junctions - approach speed10196
Signals - correctly100204
Position - normal stops90108
Reverse right - Control8135
Positioning - lane discipline6054
Taxi/Forward Park cont5182
Control - gears3189
Following distance31118
Control - parking brake3023
Judgement - overtaking302
Vehicle checks22148
Response to signs - other road users209
Signals - timed2074
Control - Footbrake1246
Control Stop - Promptness1017
Eyesight100
Signals - necessary10129
Control - accelerator027
Ancillary controls0020
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0039
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Highway Code000
Mirrors - signalling00145
Precautions000
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.