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.

Stafford: 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 markings64244
Junctions - observation637114
Mirrors - change direction617147
Junctions - turning right46094
Response to signs - traffic lights42136
Reverse park - Control420106
Move off - safely370316
Positioning - normal driving370238
Use of speed361112
Judgement - crossing25217
Control - steering251296
Response to signs - traffic signs250129
Maintain progess - speed230373
Awareness/planning220148
Judgement - meeting20249
Maintain progress - undue hesitation150215
Positioning - lane discipline15044
Reverse park - Observatons15035
Position - normal stops14089
Mirrors - signalling130396
Move off - control130217
Mirrors - change speed120239
Reverse right - Observation9018
Clearance / obstructions7570
Junctions - cutting corners6028
Control - parking brake5011
Junctions - approach speed5036
Pedestrian crossing504
Taxi/Forward Park cont5036
Control - gears4097
Following distance4056
Reverse right - Control4011
Signals - correctly3090
Judgement - overtaking201
Response to signs - other road users209
Taxi/Forward Park obs209
Vehicle checks2066
Ancillary controls107
Control Stop - Promptness1014
Junctions - turning left1023
Response to signs - traffic controllers100
Signals - necessary1051
Control - accelerator007
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0025
Control - Footbrake0057
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Eyesight000
Highway Code000
Precautions007
Reverse left - Control000
Reverse left - Observation000
Signals - timed0060
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.