Updated DVSA Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness issued

The Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency has published an updated Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness version of the Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness that all operators and their maintenance teams (including external maintenance providers) need to have and follow.

The revision contains previous information plus further information about tyre safety and updated daily walkaround check posters for HGV and PSV.

The Guide is not a statutory document in the sense that if it is not adhered to it is an offence or a breach of the law of itself. However, the operating of vehicles that are not fit and serviceable can constitute the commission of actual offences (e.g. breaches of construction & use requirements). Further, Traffic Commissioners expect the Guide to be followed; if operators and drivers do not follow the advice it is a benchmark against which failings will be assessed e.g. at Traffic Commissioner hearings.

Therefore the advice is that all operators and all their relevant staff be aware of the entire contents of the Guide. The awareness and knowledge of external maintenance providers should also be checked and assessed. External providers may operate in separate legal entities and may be geographically apart but they must be managed properly by the operators for whom they are working. For operator’s licence purposes they are part of the operator’s obligations. Maintenance can be contracted out but operators cannot delegate or contract out their operator’s licence responsibilities.

For further information about this and operator licensing compliance generally please contact our team.