AN Oxford roundabout has been named one of the country's trickiest junctions for learner drivers.

The Headington roundabout, on the A40, is so complicated that it has become one of ten junctions nationwide where learners are most likely to fail.

The survey was conducted by the AA Driving School.

Driving instructors in Oxford also named the BMW roundabout at Garsington and the Rose Hill roundabout as the city's other failure blackspots.

Colin Hemshall, an instructor from Botley, said the mention of the Headington roundabout - dubbed 'the hamburger' after its recent redesign - struck fear into the hearts of learners.

He said: "When I say we're doing the Headington roundabout they just sigh 'oh right'.

"Learners are apprehensive of it, partly because of the size of it.

"It's so unusual, you don't get many roundabouts with a road going through the middle of it."

Mr Hemshall said the volume of traffic and number of lanes also cause problems.

"There is so much paint on the road it can be very confusing. You can literally get stuck on the roundabout, stopping traffic going down to Wheatley. And if you cause traffic to slow down, swerve or stop, that's a fail."

But Mr Hemshall did have some words of encouragement for the city's learner drivers.

He said: "One of the main issues with roundabouts is lane discipline. If you stay in the correct lane that's half the battle. The more you do it, the more you get comfortable with it."

The survey also named Leicester's 'pork pie' roundabout, the Great Cambridge roundabout in Edmonton and Swindon's 'magic roundabout' as among the most confusing.

Roundabouts were the most likely time for a mistake resulting in test failure to occur, followed by behaviour at junctions, reversing around a corner and parallel parking.