If your business requires an Operator Licence, it is essential that you stay compliant and fulfil your undertakings. This includes good housekeeping on the details of the O Licence itself. Don’t forget, if you lose your O Licence, you could also lose your business.

If there have been any changes since your O Licence was issued, you must ensure that you notify the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. These changes include:

1. Change of transport manager:

Have you appointed a new transport manager? Has your transport manager gone on extended sick leave? Is someone else filling in for them during their absence? Or have you appointed a transport manager for the first time? Have you appointed additional transport managers as your business expands? Have any of your existing team acquired a Transport Manager CPC qualification? If any of these apply, you should notify the Traffic Commissioner.

2. Change of company director:

Have any of your company directors retired, resigned or passed away? Or gone on long term sick leave? Have you appointed a new company director? Have any of your directors been declared bankrupt or had a criminal conviction for any reason? Your O Licence is applied for by a director, who will sign the application form on behalf of the company. Legal responsibility for compliance therefore rests with the company directors – even if you also have a transport manager. You should notify the Traffic Commissioner of any changes in the board of directors – especially if the original applicant is no longer a director.

3. Change of address:

Have you moved address? Even a move to premises next door must be reported to the Traffic Commissioner. Don’t forget, you will need to inform other authorities, such as HMRC, as well.

4. New depot:

Have you opened a new depot recently? If it is in the same region, you must notify the Traffic Commissioner. It is important that all your operational depots are listed correctly on your O Licence.

5. Doing business in a new region:

If you open a new depot in a different Traffic Commissioner’s region, you will need to apply for a new O Licence to operate in that new region. You must apply for a new O Licence immediately – you are not permitted to operate a depot in your new region until your new O Licence is granted! In future, you must then notify the Traffic Commissioner in this new region if anything changes.

Actively manage your O Licence

As well as fulfilling your O Licence undertakings every working day, you should ensure that you keep the information recorded in your O Licence (or Licences) up to date and accurate. Traffic Commissioners are keen to see operators actively managing their O Licence, and recommend that it should be a regular item on the agenda of every board meeting.

Refresh your knowledge

We offer Transport Manager CPC Refresher courses and OLAT (Operator Licence Awareness Training) courses, both in the classroom and online, for both the road haulage and passenger transport industries. You should attend one of these courses every few years to ensure that your knowledge is up to date and you are applying best practice.

It’s good housekeeping.