When it was established in 2017, one of the objectives set for the NRI was “to contribute to an improvement in the national pass rate of LGV vocational tests”. In this article we assess progress against that objective. 23 LGV driver training organisations have already demonstrated their commitment to professional LGV instructors by becoming an NRI examination centre and enabling LGV instructors to join the NRI by taking the LGV Instructor exam.
New DVSA data for Great Britain* shows that in 2019/20, 40,000 LGV drivers passed their Practical Driving Test with a pass rate of 58.9%. A longer look at the data shows that national pass rates have improved in recent years, having risen from 46.3% in 2007/08.
The data shows the pass rates at all 120 DVSA exam centres throughout the UK. While most are DVSA’s own driving test centres, twelve are driver training organisations who are both DVSA-Approved LGV Driving Test Centres and NRI Examination Centres, and this means that their Practical Driving Test pass rate is shown in this new DVSA data. The DVSA data for those twelve NRI exam centres shows that in 2019/20, eight had a pass rate above the national rate of 58.9% with the average pass rate for the twelve centres being 63%.
NRI launched in January 2017. The DVSA data shows that improvements in pass rates among the seven current NRI centres who were operating as DVSA delegated driving test centres in 2016/17 and are one of the twelve currently operating, outstripped the modest general rise in pass rates. In 2016/17 the national LGV pass rate was 56.7% and by 2019/20 the national LGV pass rate had risen by just over two percentage points from 56.7% to 58.9%. However, in the same three year period, the average pass rate across those seven NRI centres had climbed by seven percentage points from 54.3% to reach 61.1%.
* DVSA0501 – Practical large goods vehicle (LGV) test pass rates by gender, year and DTC published 29th October 2020 on gov.uk website.