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

It may seem strange to see the next few paragraphs on a website operated by by a company that earns a living by providing services to Goods Vehicle Operators, but we hope that you will understand if we begin this section of the site by getting you to ask yourself some searching questions. 

Before going down the route of applying for an Operators Licence, irrespective of whether you are a prospective owner driver or someone who needs trucks to move your own or someone else's goods you are advised to consider the following:

1. Do you really need to run your own truck or fleet of trucks?
2. What type of operator licence do you require?
3. How many vehicles and trailers will you need?
4. Have you got somewhere environmentally suitable to park the vehicles and trailers?
5. Have you got someone to competently carry out regular preventative maintenance and satisfactory inspections on the vehicles and trailers you will be using?
6. Do you have the required level of 'financial standing' that the Traffic Commissioner needs?
7. Do you or someone in your employ have detailed knowledge of drivers' hours to ensure compliance with the drivers hours and record keeping regulations?

'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 truck or 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.... if someone has offered you a contract to move goods for them if you buy a truck make sure you are not taking over a role that they couldn't make a profit at themselves....... if you've got goods to move and others won't move them at the price you expect don't decide you could do it cheaper yourself until you've checked and re-checked your figures...... trucks and trailers are cheap to buy at the moment, but don't be fooled into thinking you can make a killing by buying cheap and running at cheap rates! 2009 has been a hard year for most who are in business and running trucks is an expensive and regulation heavy sector at the best of times, which 2009 has certainly not been and 2010 probably won't show much improvement!

Be aware that to apply for a goods vehicle operator licence, irrespective of how many vehicles and trailers you want to specify, it will cost you £250.00.  This fee is not refundable, so, should you decide half way through the process that you don't want to go on, £250.00 is lost, you won't get it back.  You are required to advertise the application in a local paper and this costs on average £200.00. Again, this expense will be money wasted if you start the process and then give up or if you make a mess of the application and the Traffic Commissioner makes you advertise again. What's more, when you are granted a licence there is a further fee of £391.00 to pay.

There is a very specific minimum amount of financial standing evidence that needs to be made available to the Traffic Commissioner as part of the application and this is often the reason applications get rejected. The minimum amount of funds you have to prove to the Commissioner are available to you must remain available throughout the life of the licence if it's granted. This financial requirement is laid out later on this page, but it's important that you are aware from the start the level of funds required, which is calculated in the following way:-

Since 2005, If you are applying for a restricted licence (various types of licences are explained below) you must be able to show the Traffic Commissioner that you have readily available funds of at least £3,100 for the first vehicle and a further £1,700.00 for each additional vehicle you intend operate.

Standard National licence applicants will need to have £6,200.00 for the first vehicle and £3,400.00 for every extra vehicle, as will Standard International applicants. All financial documents must be in the same name(s) as the applicant . In the case of a Limited Company the funds must be held within the company.

Strangely, if you are intending to operate semi-trailers as part of your operation there is no requirement to show available funds to ensure that they are being used in a compliant way. Yet, if you have your own tractor unit, but pull other peoples semi-trailers, you are responsible for the compliance of each and every semi-trailer you hitch up to.

So, do your sums and all your homework before you get as far as sending in the completed application forms to the VOSA Central Licensing Unit at Leeds.

'What type of operator licence do you require?'

OK, so you are sure that the finaces are in place and you want to start the ball rolling.  The next 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 his/her 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 commercial vehicles - strange, but true.  Furthermore, a restricted operator can carry out movements both nationally and internationally, as long as the movements are always on an own account basis. In plain terms, if you are granted a restricted licence your vehicles can go anywhere within and outside the UK as long as they are only used to carry your own goods. You must never use vehicles authorised on a restricted licence to move other peoples goods, to do so is an offence and could lead to the licence being revoked.

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 the Transport Managers CPC, not to be confused with the recently introduced Driver CPC. To be the designated Transport Manager is an important role and one that the Traffic Commissioners will expect to be carried out with due diligence and care. Don't be tempted to put forward someone from the companies advertising "Transport Managers for hire" in the trade papers, or some friend or relative who holds a CPC but you will never see from one month to the next. The role of designated Transport Manager is the most important role in any business that relies on commercial vehicles.

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.

Have you got suitable and appropriate preventative maintenence procedures arranged?

Before the Traffic Commissioner will grant any type or size of 'O' licence the applicant needs to show that a good quality set of procedures and practices are in place to ensure that all the vehicles and any trailers to be used are always fit and serviceable.

Preventative Maintenence Inspections(PMI) 

It is a requirement of every application that evidence of a maintenence and planned inspection contract is part of the application.  If you have your own workshop facilities and either employ or bring in a suitably qualified technician to carry out maintenance work then you can declare that to the Commissioner.  If you use a third party garage or dealership you will need to enter into a written contract with them to carry out regular PMI's on your fleet.

Forward Planning of Preventative Mantenance  

Every prospective operator must have in place a forward planning system, such as a wallchart or software system, that ensures inspections; tests, calibrations etc. of the vehicles and their components are carried as and when required by the Commissioner.  A point bearing in mind is that the Commissioners and VOSA Vehicle Examiners view annual tests as minimum standards of compliance, so don't think you can leave the full maintenance of any vehicle or trailer until just before it's annual test. If you are spot checked by VOSA in a roadside encounter and they believe that regular maintenance has not taken place your next stop is likely to be at Public Inquiry.

Walk round checks and defect reporting

More emphasis is being placed on the responsibility of drivers' to carry out preventative maintenance procedures within their daily duties. With the introduction of new graduated fixed penalties this year and the additional power of VOSA to issue these penalties to drivers it is ever more important that operators train their drivers to carry out regular and effective walk round checks on the vehicles and trailers they are using.

Every operator must have an audited walk round check and defect reporting system in place.  Even an owner driver is expected to have written evidence of carrying out daily walk round checks and prove that defects are rectified. 

'How many vehicles and trailers will you need?'

If you believe that you will only require 2 vehicles and 2 trailers to start with it's still 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 review, normally in five years time.  The reason that I suggest this additional thought and consideration at this point is that you may find it easier to apply for an initial authorisation to specify 4 vehicles and 4 trailers from the very start rather than having to go through the application process twice in so many years.  If you are granted authorisation for 4 vehicles and 4 trailers you don't have to be operating 4 straight away, you can run 2 trucks and trailers and keep a 'margin' of two more of each for use as and when required.

Something that isn't always understood by new applicants is that if you are intending to run a tractor unit you must apply for authorisation to run a semi-trailer as well, even if you don't own your own trailers. As menioned briefly above, as soon as you back under anyones trailer with your tractor unit you are liable for the condition of that trailer and both VOSA and the Traffic Commissioner will expect you to have applied for authorisation to operate both a vehicle and a trailer. There is no additional financial standing requirement when applying to run trailers, nor do you have to specify the exact trailer you are to use. In fact many owner drivers go through their entire career without ever having owned a trailer, they always pull other companies trailers, but they must still have authority from the Traffic Commissioner to do so.

'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) or centres will be. Members of the public and owners of other businesses can object to your application if they feel they have due cause. What's more the local authority, the Police, trade associations and various other bodies can object as well, so it's important you make sure you have permission to park if you don't own the designated operating centre.

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 someone 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 by other authorised operators and how many vehicles/trailers in total that you believe could be safely parked there.

Financial standing