Over the last few months, the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA hereafter) have been updating a number of online guidance and policy documents you can find online.
In late April 2022, the DVSA revised it's guidance on how vehicle defects are categorises during roadside checks; with special attention given to load security. This guidance can be found on the Gov.uk website at the following [link].
In light of the current concern with load security; including such details as obligatory seatbelts, ESC…
From 21 May 2022, you’ll need a standard international goods vehicle operator licence to transport goods for hire or reward in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
This will apply to you if you’re based in England, Scotland or Wales and use:
vans or other light goods vehicles (sometimes called ‘light commercial vehicles’)
vans towing trailers
cars towing trailers
The new rules will apply to you if you use:
vans with a maximum authorised mass (MAM) over 2,500kg (2.5 tonnes) and…
The funding, which constitutes part of the National Highways' existing £169 Million "Users & Communities Fund" will specifically target aspects which directly effect HGV drivers; such as security, lighting, shower and toilet facilities, and so on.
This now brings the UK Government up to 33 actions to support the sector, as the country tries to address the ongoing HGV Driver shortage.
You can read more about the new funding, it's goals and the Governments' plans regarding the HGV sector at this [link].
The DVSA have recently sent out an email covering changes to the Traffic Office Portal (TOP) reports; covering such matters as a change of email address & updates to the Notice Types.
The email can be read in full online at this [Link].
The following is taken from a letter circular we at TMC Assist will shortly be sending out to our clients, concerning a growing enforcement trend within both the DVSA and Uk Tarrfic Police:
We at TMC Assist have become aware of a growing and shifting trend within both DVSA and Police enforcement regarding manual records and periods of ‘Other Work’, which we feel you should be made aware of.
At a number of recent public inquiries to which TMC Assist have been…
The following is taken from an email circular released by HM Revenue & Customs, as well as the DVSA:
From 1 January 2022, any goods moved between Great Britain and the EU, except for the island of Ireland, will require full customs controls. The full article covers such issues as:
Moving goods from the island of Ireland to Great Britain
Moving goods from Great Britain to EU
Moving goods from the EU to Great Britain
Moving goods through…
The following is taken from an email circular released by the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency:
We are aware that some users have experienced delays in receiving their OCRS report.
Some of the new updates to the system combined with the high volume of downloads have resulted in some customer delays.
We are working on a fix to ensure that OCRS reports are available within 30 minutes.
No other customer reports are affected.
Contacting the Customer Service Centre
While we work to…
The following is taken from an email circular released by the DVSA:
The repairs to the reporting system are complete and OCRS reports are now available.
Questions
If you have any questions about changes to the system, user issues or your score please contact our Customer Service Centre.
If you have questions about any technical changes to the content of the OCRS report, please contact the Criminal Analysis Unit: criminalanalysisunit@dvsa.gov.uk.
Due to the new features of the OCRS service, the report will take a…
The following is taken from a email circular released by the DVSA:
Increase in tests
The MoD will initially be providing a number of DDEs to help create thousands of additional HGV tests between now and Christmas.
MoD examiners will be carrying out 5 tests a day over a 5-day working week.
They are fully trained to carry out HGV tests and will start testing from 11 October. This will be kept under review.
We will carry out training courses with these examiners to make…
The following is an exert taken from an email circular released by the DVSA:
The government has announced further plans to help reduce the lorry driver shortage.
These plans follow the recently announced vocational test changes which will create an extra 50,000 lorry tests every year.
DVSA has already delivered 50% more tests than were available before the pandemic.
The email then goes on to outline steps such as:
Deploying Ministry of Defence driving instructors to assist DVSA examiners.
…