The practical driving test
Two different kinds of rule govern the practical test. The Regulations fix a minimum time on the road and an eyesight standard measured in millimetres and metres; the fault allowance every candidate knows is published by DVSA and appears in no instrument.
The minimum time on the road
A statutory floor, not the length of the appointment.
The Regulations require that a candidate for a car test drives on roads for not less than 30 minutes. That is a floor on one component of the test, not a statement of how long the whole appointment takes, and this page does not offer a typical duration in its place. An extended driving test — the one a court can order under section 36 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 — carries a longer floor of its own.
Sourced — legislationThe Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2864), reg 40B(5)(c)(iv); reg 41(2) for the extended testlegislation.gov.ukrevised text retrieved 13 August 2026
The eyesight standard
Examined once, at the practical test itself.
Eyesight — read a registration mark in good daylight at the prescribed distance. Sch 8 Part 2 §A sets the standard as a competence rather than as figures on this page — this site links to the instrument rather than paraphrasing its distance and character-size specification further.
Sourced — legislationThe Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2864), Sch 8 Part 2 §A (categories B and B+E)legislation.gov.ukrevised text retrieved 13 August 2026
Faults, and the allowance that is not in the law
The examiner's verdict is the statutory rule; the counting is DVSA's.
Where this figure comes from
The fault allowance is published by DVSA, not prescribed by the Regulations
S.I. 1999/2864 prescribes no fault allowance for the practical test. Reg 40C(3) states only that a candidate passes if he "satisfies the person conducting it of his ability to drive safely and to comply with the specified requirements", and Sch 8 Part 2 enumerates those requirements qualitatively. The fault counts and the three grade names are published by DVSA and carried here as the authority's own rule.
DVSA publishes the allowance a candidate is measured against: no more than 15 driving faults, and 0 serious or dangerous faults. The three grades — driving fault, serious fault, dangerous fault — are DVSA’s own vocabulary, carried here unchanged rather than translated into “minors” and “majors”.
Published by the authority — not prescribed by the RegulationsGOV.UK, “Driving test” — faults and your result (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency)retrieved 13 August 2026
Retaking the practical test
A candidate who fails a car practical test may not apply for another for 10 clear working days. That is longer than the wait after a lorry, bus or trailer test, which the same regulation sets at three clear working days — the car case falls into the regulation’s “in any other case” limb, which is the longer one.
Sourced — legislationThe Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2864), reg 34(3)(a), (b)legislation.gov.ukrevised text retrieved 13 August 2026
What the law does not say
No minimum number of driving lessons is required
Great Britain prescribes NO minimum number of professional driving lessons for category B. S.I. 1999/2864 contains no minimum-hours requirement for cars: a candidate may present for the practical test having taken none, provided they hold a valid theory pass certificate and have supervised practice under the provisional licence conditions. Compulsory Basic Training (Sch 12) applies to motorcycles and mopeds only. This is a FINDING — many markets in this family do prescribe a minimum, and stating "none" is the answer to the question, not the absence of one.
The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2864), reg 40A(1); Sch 12