In Wanstead [North-East London], learner drivers who take their test are more likely to fail than anywhere else in Britain. According to the new figures released by the Department for Transport, 71.5% of first-time test takers at the Hermon Hill test centre failed in the year up to March. That figure is considerably higher than the national average of 46.2%.
Driving instructor, Munawar Dossul, of the Ez2Drive School of Motoring, teaches learners from all over the Wanstead and Woodford. He said: “To be honest, I’m not surprised to hear the rates are so low in Wanstead. I tell a lot of my students to take their tests in Chingford instead.
“The Redbridge roundabout and the Waterworks roundabouts are both on the Hermon Hill test route, and they can really panic students. Part of the test involves taking the third exit on the Waterworks roundabout, and I know a lot of students make mistakes while doing that.”
Although he believed there were definite reasons why pass rates were so low, he had been told not to reveal them, said a spokesman for the Wanstead test centre.
A spokeswoman for The Driving Standards Agency, which administers driving tests in Britain, said: “Pass rates are influenced by various factors and there will inevitably be some variation from one test centre to another.” However, she refused to comment on individual centres.
Most of the top performing test centres in the Department of Transport study are in remote areas of Scotland. The highest pass rate among was in Mallaig, in the Highlands, where 78.6% of first-time test takers passed.
But only 14 people took their first test there compared to 4,826 people at Hermon Hill.