Fail rate in Derry three times that in Coleraine

New data released by the Driver and Vehicle Agency show the failure rate for driving tests at the Altnagelvin test centre was almost three times the rate posted at Coleraine over the past year.
By Kevin Mullan
Published 4th Nov 2019, 11:00 BST

The DVA acknowledged that of 1951 first time driving tests at Altnagelvin between July 2018 and July 2019 161 (17 per cent) resulted in failure.

During the same time frame there were 1105 first attempts at Coleraine of which 69 failed (6.2 per cent).

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The information has been newly-released by the DVA under Freedom of Information legislation.

According to the most recent quarterly department statistics for April to June that were published in August, the driving test pass rate in Derry was the lowest in the North for the sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of this financial year.

“The overall pass-rate for private-car driving tests was 54.4 per cent, ranging by test centre from 41 per cent in Londonderry (Altnagelvin) to 71.8 per cent in Downpatrick.

“This was the eighteenth consecutive quarter that Downpatrick had the highest pass-rate, and the sixth consecutive quarter that Londonderry (Altnagelvin) had the lowest,” according to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Driver, Vehicle, Operator, and Enforcement Statistics.

It was suggested that a range of factors - such as driving ability, experience and local driving conditions - could be behind the difference in fail rates.

Related topics:ColeraineAltnagelvinDerryNorthDepartment for Infrastructure