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.

Wednesbury: 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 - observation17360326
Mirrors - change direction14960266
Response to signs - road markings85658
Junctions - turning right8111123
Control - steering6721736
Reverse park - Observatons594115
Reverse park - Control565249
Awareness/planning4810302
Positioning - lane discipline479159
Response to signs - traffic lights47544
Maintain progess - speed470766
Positioning - normal driving426234
Clearance / obstructions407359
Move off - control394335
Response to signs - traffic signs37142
Judgement - meeting3418122
Move off - safely336442
Following distance262189
Maintain progress - undue hesitation243707
Signals - correctly220265
Use of speed201123
Reverse right - Observation18059
Mirrors - change speed171147
Signals - necessary171179
Judgement - crossing16617
Junctions - approach speed163202
Vehicle checks153262
Pedestrian crossing13724
Position - normal stops120257
Taxi/Forward Park obs10137
Junctions - turning left9048
Mirrors - signalling90186
Reverse right - Control8146
Control Stop - Promptness8017
Taxi/Forward Park cont72111
Control - Footbrake71199
Control - gears71200
Junctions - cutting corners6023
Response to signs - other road users5136
Ancillary controls4028
Judgement - overtaking406
Control - parking brake3040
Signals - timed30234
Eyesight100
Response to signs - traffic controllers101
Control - accelerator0018
Control - balance000
Control - clutch0028
Controlled stop - Control000
ECO Driving000
Highway Code000
Precautions007
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.