THE gap between male and female driving test pass rates has narrowed in Southampton during the pandemic.

DVLA data shows that of 470 tests taken by male drivers at the Forest Hills Test Centre between April and June, 291 were successful – a pass rate of 62%.

Meanwhile, 53% of 438 tests taken by women were passed over this period, giving a gap of nine percentage points.

Figures for this period in 2020 were unavailable for Southampton when tests were cancelled due to lockdown restrictions.

Women had a success rate of 42% during the same period in 2019 – compared to 56% for men, meaning there was a gap of 14 percentage points between the genders.

In the first quarter of 2018-19, the gap was four percentage points.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “The impact of the pandemic means we’re in unusual times when it comes to driving tests, not least because there’s an enormous backlog of drivers waiting to take tests and get out on the road.

"While it’s encouraging that the gender driving test pass ‘gap’ appears to be closing, only time will tell whether this is a trend that continues as the number of people taking tests starts to return to normal.”

Of the five months of available figures for Southampton (Forest Hills) between July and December 2020, women had a pass rate of 49%, while men passed 59% of tests.

The AA said the difference in pass rates between men and women is a long-term trend, but added it is good to see the gap closing slightly.

Edmund King, president of the AA, added: “The pandemic has had an impact on the overall pass rate.

"People who took their test in April to June this year would have been likely to have had their lessons disrupted by the lockdown restrictions of 2020 so may well have taken lessons over a longer period of time than they would have done, had there been no restrictions.

"Many of them would have been in the backlog of people who booked a test, knowing if they failed it may be a long wait before they could re-take it. This could all have had an impact on the small improvement in the pass rate.”