It’s L for Essex learners

GETTING behind the wheel is a daunting prospect for any learner driver – but those in Colchester are more likely to crash than anyone else.

Provisional licence holders in the Essex town had more prangs on average during driving lessons than elsewhere in Britain – an unwanted crown that is unlikely to help the county shrug off its ‘boy racer’ reputation.

Drivers in Guildford, Preston, Plymouth, Canterbury and Exeter also fared badly.

The safest learners are from Cambridge, Blackpool, Doncaster, Torquay, Hereford and Walsall, according to figures for 2020 – the latest available – obtained under Freedom of Information requests to the DVLA and the Department for Transport.

Researchers found that 46,424 learners in Colchester had 117 crashes between them.