The DVA states that there must be “satisfactory facilities and arrangements for ensuring that vehicles are maintained in a fit and serviceable condition.”  The practicalities of this are wide-ranging.  You can read about the vehicle maintenance requirements in a previous post here.

Vehicles

As part of the vehicle operator licence (VOL) application, you need to seek authorisation for the number of vehicles and trailers to be held at each Operating Centre and you will need to advise how your maintenance will be handled.

 As outlined in a previous post, at AJT Transport Consultancy, we would usually advise applying for the most vehicles you can afford at the time of your initial application.  This is because it is best to minimise the number of variation applications (i.e. changes) you have to make in future, simply due to the arduousness process.  If you make a variation application, you effectively have to prove yourself all over again.

You do not have to submit vehicle registration numbers at the time of submitting the new application, particularly because you may not acquire your vehicles until the licence is granted.  This may trigger a query on the VOL application, but as long as you respond with an explanation in a timely manner, it should not impact on the licence being granted.

Your Maintenance Provider(s)

Operator licence holders are required to keep their vehicles in a safe and roadworthy condition and must appoint a maintenance provider (a so-called ‘Safety Inspector’) on the VOL application. The named Safety Inspector can be an external workshop or an internal qualified person.  If you are stipulating an internal person, they will need to be properly qualified and have access to the necessary tools and equipment.

If you intend to outsource your vehicle maintenance, you will need the provider’s address(es).  You can add more than one.  For example, if Road Trucks will maintain your Scanias and Dennison Commercials will maintain your Volvos, you can add both to the application.  You can add as many safety inspectors as you want, and we would encourage you to add anyone that maintains your vehicles in any capacity, including your tyre supplier(s).

Note: you do not need to provide the contract that you have with your Safety Inspector (maintenance provider) as part of the application submission, but you will need to be able to provide it if requested (at any time).

You will also be asked how you will analyse your digital tachograph information, either in-house or using an external analysis company.  If this is something you need help with, please get in touch to find out about our range of tachograph analysis options.

Safety Inspections

On your VOL application you will be asked to specify the maximum number of weeks between safety inspections of your vehicles and trailers.  Typically, the answer to this should be no more than 12 weeks (maximum 13 but this is typically only advisable in very specific circumstances, e.g. vehicles or trailers that are not used regularly, say a spare truck that is only once a week).  There is an additional question which asks if some of your vehicles or trailers are inspected more frequently.  In most cases the answer to this is likely to be ‘yes’.  Although you don’t have to stipulate the frequency, your safety inspection intervals should be known in advance of submitting your VOL application.  The DVA has published and regularly updates a ‘Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness’ publication, which includes information on appropriate inspection frequency based on various operating conditions, ranging from ‘’lightly loaded vehicles in easy operating conditions” to “off road, difficult conditions”.  The guide also stipulates that older vehicles should be inspected more frequently.  You can use this guide to assist you when devising your inspection schedules. We highly recommend that you familiarise yourself with this publication and use it as a best practice guide when setting up your maintenance systems.

If you need expert help with any vehicle operator licence application or variation, please contact John on +44 7894 140796 or info@ajttc.co.uk.