City drivers face ‘L’ of a test

A DRIVING test centre in Birmingham has one ‘L’ of a failure rate – the second worst in the country.

And when it comes to the sexes, more men pass first time than women nationwide, it has been revealed.

Figures reveal The Pavilion driving test centre in Moor Lane, near Witton Cemetery, has the worst pass rate for first-time test takers outside London.

A total of 299 people took their practical test for the first time at The Pavilion centre in 2017/18. But only 91 of those were successful – a pass rate of just 30.4 per cent. None of the 299 candidates managed to pass with zero faults.

Only one test centre in the whole of Britain had a worse record – Erith test centre in East London, where 28 per cent of first-time candidates managed to pass. The national average was 46.7 per cent – and none of Birmingham’s test centres managed to hit that mark.

In South Yardley, just 31.5 per cent of first-timers managed to pass their practical test in 2017/18.

In Cocks Moors Woods it was 36.7 per cent, in Wyndley 36.9 per cent, in King- standing it was 37.2 per cent, in Garretts Green 40.6 per cent, in Sutton Coldfield 40.9 per cent, and in Kings Health 41.7 per cent.

The Shirley test centre had the best record, but, even there, only 44.3 per cent of first-timers managed to pass their practical test, below the average.

Across Britain as a whole, the overall pass rate for firsttime test-takers dropped slightly from 47.1 per cent in 2016/17.

While 50.4 per cent of men were successful at their first attempt, that fell to 43.1 per cent for women.