OLCIS eNews – March 2025

Tuesday 25 March 2025

Welcome to the March edition of Logistics UK’s Operator Licensing Compliance Information Service (OLCIS) enews update. This document is a monthly round-up of transport news items sent out as part of your OLCIS subscription. Its objective is to keep you up to date with news affecting your commercial vehicle operation. To view previous editions and access your other subscription benefits, visit the dedicated OLCIS hub.

We welcome any comments and suggestions for new topics you would like to see included within OLCIS enews. Contact Customer Services with any feedback.

City & Guilds reissuing updated Transport Manager CPC certificates

City & Guilds has recently updated its certificate template for the Transport Manager CPC qualification to reflect design and legislative requirements. City & Guilds is reissuing updated certificates issued after 31 December 2020; individual communications requesting learners submit their details are being sent out to claim the revised certificate using the new template.

The validity of qualification achievement and any licences currently held are not in question, but the original certificates issued by City & Guilds since December 2020 will not be accepted by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner for future licence applications which can only be made with a reissued certificate.

Updated vehicle tax rates for light and heavy goods vehicles in April

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has released updated vehicle tax rates for cars, motorcycles, light and heavy goods vehicles which take effect from 1 April 2025.

This includes the new rates for electric, zero and nil-rate low emission vehicles. The latest V149 and V149/1 forms are available here.

Announcement on driving licence changes and removal of the additional driver training

The government will be bringing driving licence rules for zero tailpipe emission vans in line with their petrol and diesel equivalents. The requirement for additional training that is currently in place for zero tailpipe emission vans, which can be heavier than petrol and diesel counterparts, will be removed.

The date the changes will come into effect is yet to be announced, but likely to be later in the Spring.

To reflect this change, the Logistics UK briefing note has been updated and can be found here.

DVLA launch new QR code for sharing driving licence

Motorists who have signed up for a Driver and vehicles account can now use a QR code to share their driving licence information quicker and easier than ever before.

Once they have signed up for an account, they’ll be able to generate a QR code and instantly share their driving licence information safely and securely with third parties such as car hire and insurance companies.

This new service is only available to Driver and vehicles account users and is the latest in a wide range of benefits available through the account. This includes the ability to choose to receive vehicle tax reminders by email or text.

Motorists can use the new service by setting up or signing in to their Driver and vehicles account at: www.gov.uk/dvla/account.

Top questions this month at the Member Advice Centre    

Q – What do I do when a new employee joins us in the middle of a reference period?

A – Firstly, you need to find out if your new employee worked as an in-scope mobile worker for their previous employer in the road transport sector during the reference period in question.

If they did, then you must ask them in writing for an account of time spent working for that employer during the reference period. Their previous employer is compelled in law to provide the worker with their working time records on request. You must include all time worked for the previous employer and you in the working time calculations.

If they did not, for example if they previously worked in a bar or in a warehouse (rather than as a driver) for another company, then all you need to do is count time worked from the moment they started work for you in the calculation.

Q – Are we allowed to keep our tachograph, working time and vehicle maintenance records at a location other than the operating centre?

A – Yes. There is no place specified in the regulations or operator licence conditions for these records to be kept. However, you must be able to produce such records for any enforcement officer within a reasonable amount of time. Tachograph charts must be retained for at least 12 months or for two years if used for working time records (following the period in question) and vehicle maintenance records for at least 15 months.

Q – One of our drivers picked up a third-party trailer to do a delivery within central London and received a penalty charge notice (PCN) for the trailer not having any signage within the Direct Vision Standard zone. Can we dispute this as it’s not our trailer?

A – As the user of the trailer, you are responsible for ensuring it meets the standards when entering the Direct Vision zone in London so the PCN will need to be paid. Consider discussing and drawing up in a contract with the owner of the trailer that they will supply compliant trailers under the Direct Vision Standard scheme.

Compliance news: around the courts

Background

An operator licence was granted, and within a year was brought to Public Inquiry due to lack of financial standing. As a result of the previous inquiry, a curtailment was placed on the licence with further undertakings added.

An undertaking required the production of evidence of finances to support the maintenance of the operators’ vehicles. The evidence was provided late and was only provided following a reminder issued by the Traffic Commissioners’ office.

The other undertaking was for an independent audit, which was provided but again, was produced after the agreed timeframe. The audit highlighted the company had several failings with their systems that should have ensured compliance.

The operator received an immediate prohibition due to three failings which should have been detected from a driver walk round check. This resulted in an unannounced DVSA visit. The resulting Maintenance Investigation Visit Report was scored as ‘unsatisfactory’ with three areas marked as ‘report to Office of the Traffic Commissioner’.

Following the DVSA visit, the results from the report were provided to the operator for their comments. No response was made so the operator was called to their second Public Inquiry.

Evidence

The Public Inquiry took place, and the operator failed to attend. In the absence of any further evidence or representations, the Traffic Commissioner continued to make a decision on this licence with the evidence available to them.

From an independent audit report, the following problems were identified:

• There was no evidence of a driver induction.
• No Driver CPC or licence checks records were kept.
• PMI timescales were not consistent with the recommendations within DVSA’s Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness considering the age of the fleet.
• Driver tachograph cards were not downloaded.
• There were issues with the driver defect reporting system.

Following on from an immediate prohibition on a vehicle, these defects should have been identified by a driver during their first use walk around check.

The audit also raised further issues of significant concern:

• The nominated and approved operating centre had not been used for a long period of time.
• PMIs were incomplete, there was an absence of brake testing, driver detectable defects were identified at PMI, the declaration of roadworthiness had not been signed off, and there had been a failure of the wheel torque systems.
• There was no forward planning system, no VOR system and no systems for safety defects or recall systems.
• There was no evidence of any driver defect reporting system in place, and no evidence available for the required sample period of 15 months.
• There was no rolling road brake facility and no arrangements in place to access one.
• There was no evidence of an effective wheel security system or tyre management systems. There was no wheel torquing undertaken and no tyre pressure monitoring.
• There was no evidence of training of securing loads.
• Unlawful parking at an unapproved operating centre.
• There was no evidence of ongoing training or continuous professional development on the part of the Director.
• The examiner identified unlawful use of an unspecified heavy goods vehicle which had no road tax.

The Traffic Commissioner was concerned that with a wide number of failings, this would present a very real risk to the health and safety of drivers and the wider public. As the operator failed to attend the Public Inquiry, there was no further opportunity to investigate the Traffic Commissioner’s concerns. Equally, the operator had not used the Public Inquiry to provide a version of events that might challenge the findings above or enable them to show the Traffic Commissioner of any improvements made to their compliance systems.

Summing up

The Traffic Commissioner saw the non-attendance at the Public Inquiry as a deliberate attempt to avoid the scrutiny of the Traffic Commissioner.

Traffic Commissioners must be able to trust operators to comply with all the relevant laws, rules and regulations because it would be a physical and financial impossibility to police every aspect of the licensing system all day and every day.  In addition, operators must be able to trust other operators to observe the relevant laws, rules and regulations.  If trust between operators breaks down and some operators believe that others are obtaining an unfair commercial advantage by ignoring laws, rules or regulations then standards will inevitably slip, and the public will suffer.

The Traffic Commissioner decided to revoke the licence with immediate effect, the Traffic Commissioner based on evidence the operator would not be able to comply with the requirements of an operator’s licence.

Additionally, the licence holding company were disqualified from holding or obtaining an operators licences for seven years.