How Many Driving Faults Are You Allowed in 2026? Minors, Serious and Dangerous Faults Explained

It is the question almost every learner asks in the week before their test: how many mistakes am I actually allowed? The short answer is fifteen. The longer answer — and the one that matters — is that the number of driving faults you collect is far less important than the type of fault, and how often you repeat it.

This guide explains how the marking works in 2026, what separates a driving fault from a serious one, why fifteen minor faults is not the safety net it sounds like, and how to keep your score low on the day.

The Three Types of Fault Explained

Your examiner records every fault on the DL25 marking sheet under one of three headings. Understanding the difference between them is the key to understanding your result.

• Driving fault (minor). A mistake that did not create danger and did not affect anyone else. Stalling once at a junction, a slightly wide turn, or a mirror check you performed a fraction late.
• Serious fault. A mistake that was potentially dangerous, or that revealed a habit which could become dangerous. Emerging into a junction without adequate observation is the classic example, even if nothing was coming.
• Dangerous fault. A mistake that caused actual danger to you, the examiner, another road user or property. These usually involve the examiner or your instructor having to intervene.

Both serious and dangerous faults end the test as a fail. There is no allowance, no benefit of the doubt for an otherwise strong drive, and no partial credit.

Why 15 Driving Faults Is Not a Budget

Learners sometimes treat fifteen as a spending limit — a set of lives to be used up. That is a mistake for two reasons.

1. Repetition escalates. If you make the same driving fault repeatedly, the examiner can record it as a serious fault. Three or four late mirror checks stop being isolated errors and start being a pattern. A pattern is a habit, and habits are what the test is really assessing.
2. Faults cluster under pressure. The first fault rarely stays alone. It knocks your confidence, your attention narrows, and the next one arrives quickly. The learners who fail on faults usually collect most of them in the final ten minutes.

The practical implication is that you should aim for a clean drive, not a drive with fifteen forgivable errors in it. Aiming for zero is the reliable way to end up in single figures.

The Faults That Cost Most Learners Their Test

DVSA publishes the most common reasons candidates fail, and the list barely changes from year to year. Almost all of them are serious faults rather than accumulations of minors.

• Not making effective observation at junctions
• Not using mirrors properly when changing direction
• Poor steering control
• Incorrect positioning when turning right at junctions
• Not responding correctly to traffic lights
• Not moving off safely
• Poor road positioning during normal driving
• Not responding correctly to traffic signs
• Loss of control when moving off
• Incorrect positioning during the reverse park manoeuvre

Notice the theme. Observation and positioning dominate. Neither is about advanced car control — both are about routine, disciplined habits that need to be automatic before you sit the test.

What Happens on the Marking Sheet

The DL25 sheet lists around thirty assessed items, from the eyesight check at the start through to the manoeuvre and the independent driving section. Each item has boxes for driving faults, serious faults and dangerous faults. Your examiner marks as you drive, usually without comment, and adds a note where context matters.

At the end, they will tell you the result, read out the faults, and give you a copy of the sheet. If you passed, the sheet still tells you what to work on. If you did not, it is the single most useful document you will get — take it to your next lesson and work through it point by point.

How to Keep Your Fault Count Low

1. Fix habits, not moments. If your mirror routine is inconsistent in lessons, it will be inconsistent under pressure. Drill it until it happens without thought.
2. Slow the approach, not the whole drive. Most faults happen at junctions and hazards. Arriving at them a little slower gives you time to observe properly.
3. Recover quickly from a mistake. One stall is a minor. Three minutes of rattled driving afterwards is where tests are lost. Reset, breathe, carry on.
4. Do not assume you have failed. Learners regularly give up mentally after a wobble, then discover it was marked as a driving fault. Drive the whole test.
5. Practise on the actual test routes. Familiar roads free up attention for observation, which is exactly where the serious faults live.
6. Take full-length mock tests. Forty minutes of unbroken concentration is a skill in itself, and fatigue is a genuine cause of late faults.

Frequently Asked Questions