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Revealed: LGV Licence Test Pass Rates

truck driving

The DVSA recently released pass rates for large goods vehicles’ (LGV) licence tests across the country and what the data reveals is surprising. [1]

Here at Crown Oil, we decided to look at recently-released DVSA statistics for 2018, on average, female LGV students pass at a higher rate than their male counterparts – nationwide female pass rates were at 60%, compared to male pass rates for the UK, which were at 57.9%.

However, the research also shows that males take the tests more than ten times than females, so despite their lower pass rates, licenced-male HGV drivers will outnumber their female colleagues by 10 to 1. Still, compared to ten years ago, the number of females taking the LGV licence test has increased threefold, from 2077 tests in the 2007-2008 period.

What is an LGV licence?

Not to be confused with Light Goods Vehicles – which are vans – an LGV licence (Large Goods Vehicle) can refer to an HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle), so large trucks and lorries, as well as vans, box trucks and tippers.

There are four categories of an LGV licence:

Category C+E – The highest LGV category licence that qualifies its holder to operate the largest HGVs – that is trucks with a maximum authorised mass (MAM) of above 7.5 tonnes and trailers heavier than 750kg, such as our articulated tanker.

Category C – This is the most popular LGV licence that qualifies its holder to operate smaller trucks that you see on the roads most often.

Category C1+E – This LGV licence covers vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes with trailers of 750 kg or more. This licence category includes large cargo vans with a utility trailer or a smaller tipper truck built on a standard truck chassis.

Category C1 – This is the lowest class of LGV licence that qualifies its holder for vans and small box trucks. This licence does not allow holders to tow trailers.

Top 10 towns for male LGV tests

TownSum of Pass rate (%)Compared with total UK average
York91%33%
Hereford84%26%
Newark82%24%
Abergavenny80%22%
Swansea80%22%
Taunton79%21%
Llanelli79%21%
Cheltenham78%20%
Welwyn77%19%
Ipswich75%17%

Bottom 10 town for male drivers

TownSum of Pass rate (%)Sum of Compared to national figure
Garretts Green42%-16%
Aldridge42%-15%
Birmingham42%-15%
Tamworth42%-15%
West Bromwich42%-15%
Wolverhampton44%-14%
Featherstone44%-14%
Peterborough45%-13%
Grimsby46%-12%
Leicester48%-10%

Top 10 towns for female drivers

TownPass rateCompared with total UK average
Newark94.7%32.7%
Hereford92.9%30.9%
Coleshill91.7%29.7%
Wallace87.5%25.5%
Sunderland85.7%23.7%
Glasgow85.2%23.2%
Abergavenny84.6%22.6%
Elgin83.3%21.3%
Flint83.3%21.3%
Widnes82.9%20.9%

Bottom 10 town for female drivers

TownPass rateCompared with national average
Peterborough35.6%-26.4%
Grimsby36.7%-25.3%
Caernafon39.3%-22.7%
Aldridge40.0%-22.0%
Birmingham40.0%-22.0%
Tamworth40.0%-22.0%
West Bromwich40.0%-22.0%
Handsworth45.9%-16.1%
Harlescott47.2%-14.8%
Loughborough47.8%-14.2%

Towns with most tests conducted

TownTotal Tests ConductedPass rateCompared with total UK average
Manchester499849.4%-8.9%
London438457.0%-1.3%
Featherstone277045.1%-13.2%
Leighton Buzzard216451.9%-6.4%
Leicester212648.8%-9.5%
Guildford203754.7%-3.6%
Kingswood197060.5%2.2%
Glasgow187572.1%13.8%
Watnall182058.7%0.4%
Garretts Green174542.4%-15.9%

LGV licence points

Over 3,500 large goods vehicle (LGV) drivers have been disqualified for having too many points and 567 lost their licences by having more than 6 points within two years of passing their test, new data can reveal.

Crown Oil conducted a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA about LGV driver penalty points. LGV licences include both vans and lorries alike.

Shockingly, the DVLA’s stats show that 6,747 drivers have 3 or more points on their LGV licence, with half that number – 3,552 – having been disqualified for totting up too many points (this is known as TT99).

The most common reason for points is speeding, with 45% of punished commercial vehicle drivers having points for an SP code. There were 8791 offences due to bad drivers being issued multiple codes.

This was followed by 10% of drivers being given points for insurance offences.

Startlingly, more drivers have 6 points than have 3 points on their licence, indicating being fined is a result of a pattern of behaviour, not an unlucky day!

Driving offences by LGV drivers

CountOffencesCodePercent of total
3,982SpeedingSP45%
921InsuranceIN10%
866Careless drivingCD10%
706MiscellaneousMS8%
590Traffic signalTS7%
357Failed to stop after an accidentAC4%
257Construction and useCU3%
124Pedestrian crossingPC1%
121Drinking offencesDR1%
118Licence offenceLC1%
72Motorway offencesMW1%
71Driving while disqualifiedBA1%
13Drug offencesDG0.15%
3Dangerous driversDD0.03%

Penalty points by LGV licence

PointsNo. of licences
31,269
4246
5268
61,700
7297
8403
91,031
10326
11285
12382
1397
1486
15137
1647
1728
1860
1915
209
2125
225
237
246
251
261
274
281
291
305
332
351
602
Total6,747

The DVLA also revealed that with 1,231,000 LGV licences awarded since 2016, large vehicle drivers aren’t all that bad, with 99.4% of drivers having no points at all.

This is good news for road safety, because the Department for Transport revealed that there were 1,782 reported road deaths in the year ending June 2018. [2]


Sources:
[1] https://www.gov.uk/…/large-goods-vehicle-driving-test-data-by-test-centre
[2] https://www.gov.uk/…/Reported_road_casualties_-_Main_Results_2018.pdf

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