Falling pass rates costs learners!
on July 10th, 2011 at 10:08 pmLess than 30 per cent of candidates pass their driving tests first time at some examination centres, while only 152 out of 340 test centres in England, Wales and Scotland recorded pass rates of 50 per cent or more. The other 188 centres confirmed that more than half of first-timers taking their tests failed, according to figures released by the Department for Transport last night. The worst-performing centre in the country is Hermon Hill, in Wanstead, north-east London, which recorded 3,453 fails out of 4,826 first-time tests taken in the year up to the end of March – a failure rate of 71.5 per cent. Two centres in Bradford, at Thornbury and Heaton, also posted failure rates of more than 70 per cent. Nine of the bottom 10 performers, which all recorded pass rates lower than 35 per cent, were in London or Yorkshire. The national average for failures was 46.2 per cent – amounting to 336,352 out of 728,438 tests taken. However, any learner drivers hoping to improve their chances by heading for one of the best-performing centres would have a long way to travel, as most of them are in remote areas of Scotland. Examiners in places such as Mallaig, Inveraray, Islay and the Isle of Skye test barely 200 candidates between them a year. Motoring experts last night blamed “socio-economic factors” for the low scores in a number of inner-city areas. More
