The nominated transport manager or “responsible person” has a number of responsibilities relating to the operator licence.

He/she must be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of all aspects of the operation and must be able to demonstrate evidence of qualifications and competence.  And they must have continuous, effective management of the transport operation. The Transport Manager is expected to be a senior person in the organisation who has oversight of the whole business operation including finance, HR, and health & safety.  An auditor will look for evidence of this.

Your responsible person must hold the Transport Manager CPC qualification, and if it has been more than five years since the qualification was completed, he/she must sit a refresher course. The auditor might also request evidence of other CPD such as seminars attended or subscriptions to relevant publications.

If a CPC refresher course has not been completed once the initial five years has passed, the auditor may not fail you, but conditions could be attached to your operator licence until you provide evidence of attending the course.

In a large organisation:

The responsible person may not be solely responsible for all areas of compliance, but he/she must be aware of everything that is going on.  In this case, the auditor will want to understand the organisational structure and may ask to see evidence of how often the responsible person meets with the various department heads/teams.

In a small organisation:

Companies that operate vehicles that are not their main business (e.g. quarries, manufacturers, utilities companies, etc) are expected to be at the same level of compliance as hauliers.  This means you will still be required to have a responsible person.  It is quite common for spouses of small business owners to take on the title of Transport Manager, but it is important to know that this person must be fully involved in the business.  They cannot be transport manager in name only.

In the case of a small business where the owner is not the transport manager, the DVA might expect the owner to complete an Operator Licence Awareness Training (OLAT) course, to ensure that he/she is at least aware of the compliance obligations.

In a small business where the responsible person also has another role (e.g. Director), the DVA will expect the majority of this person’s time to be spent as transport manager.  The auditor could therefore ask for evidence of how the responsible person’s time is divided.

Any change in your transport manager or responsible person must be notified to the DVA within 28 days.