Operator Licensing - How to apply for a Goods Vehicle Operator Licence

Firstly, before going down the route of application you are advised to consider the following:

1. why do you require an operators licence?
2. what type of operator licence do you require?
3. how many vehicles and trailers will you need?
4. have you got somewhere suitable to park the vehicles and trailers?
5. have you got someone to competently carry out regular maintenance and inspections on the vehicles and trailers?
6. do you have the required level of 'financial standing' that the Traffic Commissioner needs?
7. do you or someone in your employ have sufficient knowledge of drivers' hours to ensure compliance?

'why do you require an operators licence?'

You may have already spent a great deal of time considering the question of whether or not you really need to run your own trucks before you got as far as checking out websites such as this one.  However, it is still worth once more going through all your reasons and figures before you begin on the application route. It's a big step applying for an 'O' licence.... could you not use a third party instead?

Be aware that to apply for a licence, irrespective of how many vehicles and trailers you want to specify, will cost you £277.00.  This fee is not refundable, so, should you decide half way through the process that you don't want to go on, £277.00 is lost.  To apply you need to advertise and this costs on average £200.00.. Again, this expense will be money wasted if you start the process and then give up. What's worse, if the Traffic Commissioner looks at your application and then considers that you are not to be granted a licence  .......  all the above the monies lost! So, do all the homework before you send in the application.

'what type of operator licence do you require?'

OK, so you want to start the ball rolling.  The first thing on the agenda is to decide what type of operator licence you need:  restricted; standard national or standard international.

Restricted is the type of operator licence that is required if an operator is only going to use his/her vehicles/trailers to move their own products and/or carry out own account movements. This type of licence does not presently require the operator to be the holder of a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) in Road Freight, nor does it require the operator to specifically employ anyone who is competent to operate commercail vehicles - strange, but true.  Furthermore, a restricted operator can carry out movements both nationally and internationally, as long as the movements are on an own account basis.

Standard National operator licences authorise the holder to carry out any hire for reward transportation by road, as long as movements only take place within the UK. This type of licence does require the operator or an employee of some sort to be the holder of a Certificate of Professional Competetence (CPC) in National Road Freight.  This is what is often referred to as a Transport Managers CPC, not to be confused with the soon to be introduced Driver CPC.

Standard International operator licences give the holder authorisation to ply their trade (movement of goods) internationally, as well as nationally.  In this instance the holder of a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) in International Road Freight must be employed by the company.

'how many vehicles and trailers will you need?'

If you believe that you will only require two vehicles to start with it's well worth looking at what you hope to achieve in the next year or so and whether this may require you to have more than 2 vehicles before your 'O' licence comes up for renewal, normally in five years time.  The reason that I suggest this additional thought and consideration is that you may find it easier to apply for authorisation to specify 4 vehicles from the very start rather than having to go through the application twice in so many years.  If you are granted 4 authorisations you don't have to use them straight away, you can run two trucks and keep a 'margin' of two more trucks.

'have you got somewhere suitable to park the vehicles and trailers?'

The Traffic Commissioner will expect you to have suitable, environmentally acceptable and adequate parking facilities for the number and type of vehicles and trailers you intend to operate. It's worth remembering that every application for an 'O' licence must be advertised within the Public Notices section of a newspaper that is readily available in the area where your operating centre (parking facility) will be.

Don't expect to be granted an 'O' licence if you specify the drive of your semi-detached house as the operating centre for a 44 tonner!!  You must take into account environmental and weight related considerations when looking for somewhere to park.  If you get permission to park in soemone else's operating centre you must supply suitable written prove of this and you must also let the Traffic Commissioner know how many vehicles and trailers are already parked there and how many vehicles/trailers in total that you beleive could be safely parked there.

financial standing