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# Traffic Commissioners' 2025 to 2026 Report: The Records Operators Will Be Asked For Next
- URL: https://www.logbook.co.uk/traffic-commissioners-annual-report-2025-26-what-operators-must-prepare/
- Published: 2026-10-12T09:32:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T09:32:26.000Z
- Description: The Traffic Commissioners' 2025 to 2026 report sets new service measures, 'right first time' applications and VOL text alerts. With three summer enforcement cases, here is the file to prepare.
- Author: Jamie Dawson
- Tags: HGV & Transport Logbooks, News & Updates

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain published their annual report for the year to 31 March 2026 on 30 September 2026\. Behind the tables (783 public inquiries for non-compliance, 201 goods licences revoked, 87 transport managers disqualified) it sets out how the Office of the Traffic Commissioner intends to work to 2029: fewer letters, documents demanded at the point of application, text alerts from the Vehicle Operator Licensing system, and a hoped-for consultation on operator licensing reform before the end of 2026\. Each change moves work onto the operator's compliance file. This article sets out what the report says, what the summer's enforcement cases show, and which records to have ready.

## The numbers behind the report

The statistics tables published with the report give the national picture for goods vehicle operators. Licence numbers keep falling while applications and enforcement rise.

| Goods vehicle operators, Great Britain        | 2024 to 2025 | 2025 to 2026 |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------ | ------------ |
| Operator licences in issue                    | 66,222       | 64,246       |
| New licence applications determined           | 4,637        | 5,078        |
| New licence applications refused              | 515          | 534          |
| Public inquiries completed for non-compliance | 682          | 783          |
| Licences revoked                              | 196          | 201          |
| Curtailment or conditions imposed             | 221          | 291          |
| Transport managers disqualified               | 81           | 87           |
| Driver conduct cases closed (LGV and PCV)     | 15,613       | 16,803       |

Curtailments and conditions rose by almost a third: commissioners are cutting fleets and attaching audit undertakings rather than revoking outright, so the operator must evidence improvement within a fixed period.

## New service measures for 2026 to 2029

The report refreshes the commissioners' strategic objectives. Two measures are kept: goods and PSV applications determined within an average of 35 working days, and public inquiries listed within 12 weeks of the decision to call them. Three are new: section 19 and section 22 permits within an average of 35 working days; local bus registration changes processed or referred within 10 working days of complete information; and driver conduct hearings listed within ten weeks, falling to six weeks by May 2029.

Current performance is stated plainly. Public inquiries were listed within 12 weeks in 77% of cases against a 95% target. Goods applications averaged 35 working days; PSV applications averaged 42 against the same target. The gap between call-up letter and hearing remains the window in which an audit or a new transport manager has to be evidenced.

## Applications: "right first time" and documents at submission

The most direct change is in how applications are handled. The report states that currently 75% of applications require at least one letter to be sent, and a third require at least two. The answer is a "right first time" programme: clearer correspondence, more questions asked up front, and requiring supporting documents (except adverts) to be supplied at point of submission. The maintenance contract, the transport manager's CPC and contract, financial standing evidence and the inspection intervals will be expected with the application.

Two supporting changes are described. The OTC is working with DVSA so that applicants and operators can receive text messages advising of letters sent to their self-service account on VOL. The letter stays in the account; the text is the prompt, and an out-of-date mobile number on the account means a missed deadline. The report also mentions DVSA trials underway using technology to read bank statements, which points to financial standing evidence being machine-checked rather than skimmed.

Two areas are flagged for examination: how financial standing is demonstrated, and the redeployment of transport managers. No changes are announced as of 12 October 2026.

## Transport managers

The commissioners say they have improved their transport manager letters so operators understand what change is required, and they expect applicants to show from the outset that they are trained and competent in operator licensing. On technology the line is clear: while AI may assist both operators and regulators, it cannot replace human judgement in regulatory decision-making, and accountability for compliance, road safety and professional standards remains firmly with operators.

## Reform consultation later in 2026

The commissioners have been working with the Department for Transport on a package of service improvements and are hopeful of a consultation and call for evidence later this year, subject to parliamentary time. One idea floated is removing operator discs, by analogy with the removal of tax discs in 2014\. As of 12 October 2026 no consultation has been published.

## Drivers: drug testing and D4 medical fraud

The report says the commissioners have seen an increase in cases involving drug driving, that roadside drug tests are now commonplace, and that operators should be testing their drivers. The operator will be asked what testing, education and engagement systems it had.

It also refers to a prosecution of a company providing D4 medical certificates to HGV licence holders and applicants where unhealthy drivers were being passed fit. Transport News reported on 23 June 2026 that the director of the Swansea-based provider received a four-year sentence. Record who carried out each driver's medical and, where it was not the driver's GP, how the operator satisfied itself the provider was legitimate. Our [Driver CPC records guide](https://www.logbook.co.uk/driver-cpc-records-uk-hgv-pcv-operator-guide/) covers the rest of the driver file.

## Three enforcement cases from the summer

**TMA Haulage Ltd, Somerset (23 July 2026).** Traffic Commissioner Kevin Rooney found that the sole director, also transport manager and driver, had used a former employee's driver card three times in June and July 2025 and again in April 2026, denying it in interview before admitting it. Vehicle unit data proved the case; the commissioner called it "serious and deliberate falsification of records". He was disqualified indefinitely as a transport manager, his LGV entitlement was revoked for 12 months, and the licence was cut from five vehicles to four and then revoked with a grace period to 6 October 2026.

**Kingpin Recycling Ltd, Shropshire (31 July 2026).** After a roadside encounter in July 2025, DVSA found 28 occasions when vehicles were driven without a driver card inserted, covering 3,323 km between May and August 2025, with incomplete tachograph and card records. Some drivers admitted removing cards to avoid recording duty time; drivers were "largely unregulated and unmanaged". Deputy Traffic Commissioner Dr Paul Stookes curtailed the licence indefinitely from 12 vehicles to six, ordered an independent audit and required specialist consultants to stay engaged until at least June 2027.

**St Martins Preparatory School Ltd, Grimsby (25 September 2026).** A restricted licence holder running school minibuses. Deputy Traffic Commissioner Gerallt Evans found vehicles were not inspected to the declared intervals, undertakings on maintenance records and drivers' hours were not met, and a March 2025 MOT failure involved a tyre cut to the cord. The directors had "abdicated their responsibility for compliance" to unqualified staff. The licence was cut from two vehicles to one and suspended from 25 September to 9 October 2026, with an audit and a named responsible person ordered.

In each case the record either proved the breach (vehicle unit data, card-not-inserted periods, the MOT fail) or was missing when needed (inspection sheets to the declared schedule). See the [operator's tachograph records guide](https://www.logbook.co.uk/tachograph-records-uk-operators-complete-guide/), the [roadside check guide](https://www.logbook.co.uk/hgv-driver-logbook-tachograph-rules-uk/) and the [walkaround and inspection logbook guide](https://www.logbook.co.uk/fleet-vehicle-inspection-logbook-daily-walkaround-uk/) for the record sets at issue.

## Annual test: video evidence and your own pre-test photos

A DVSA bulletin of 28 August 2026 extended the digital evidence captured at HGV and PSV annual tests. Image capture of dangerous defects was already built into the Vehicle Testing App; testers can now also record up to 10 seconds of video where images alone do not show the problem. Clips attach to the vehicle's test record on DVSA's Vehicle Testing Management platform and are viewable by Vehicle Testing Standards Assessors for the retest period. DVSA's aim is faster handling of disputes and appeals.

The bulletin imposes nothing new on operators, but if a tester has video of a cut tyre, an argument that the defect was not present at presentation needs evidence of its own. Dated photographs of tyres, brakes, lights and the underside taken at the pre-test inspection and filed with the inspection sheet are cheap insurance.

Test costs also moved. From 6 July 2026 the maximum service charge an Authorised Testing Facility may add to the statutory fee rose (DVSA bulletin, 22 June 2026). The GOV.UK fees page, updated 15 July 2026, lists the annual test at an ATF as £91 for a 2-axle HGV, £113 for 3 axles and £137 for 4 or more. ATFs may charge below the cap. Keep the ATF invoice with the test certificate; it is part of the maintenance spend a commissioner examines when financial standing is questioned.

| ATF maximum service charge | To 5 July 2026 | From 6 July 2026 |
| -------------------------- | -------------- | ---------------- |
| HGV                        | £55            | £70              |
| Trailer                    | £40            | £50              |
| Bus or coach               | £70            | £90              |

## What the compliance statistics say

Logistics UK launched its Compliance Report 2026 on 8 October 2026 at its Transport Manager conference in Falkirk. As reported by Post & Parcel on 9 October 2026, the HGV annual test initial failure rate in Great Britain fell from 10.4% to 10.0% in 2025 to 2026 (32.4% in 2008 to 2009), the final failure rate fell from 7.1% to 6.7%, and the share of operators in DVSA's green risk band rose from 66.5% to 69.1%. Blue-band operators achieved a 98.7% first-time pass rate. The caseload at public inquiry is increasingly about systems and records rather than roadworthiness alone.

### Records you must keep

- ✓Operator licence, current discs, VOL account details with a monitored mobile number, and every OTC letter received through the self-service account.
- ✓Financial standing evidence: bank statements in the licence holder's name, facility letters, and a note of the sum required for the authorised fleet.
- ✓Transport manager file: CPC certificate, contract, hours and sites, refresher training record.
- ✓Maintenance file per vehicle: maintenance contract, declared inspection intervals, safety inspection sheets, walkaround defect reports and rectification, brake tests, tyre records, pre-test photographs.
- ✓Annual test certificates, DVSA test records including any images or video obtained, retest paperwork and ATF invoices.
- ✓Tachograph data: driver card downloads at least every 28 days, vehicle unit downloads at least every 90 days, analysis, card-not-inserted and missing-mileage reports, infringement letters with driver signatures.
- ✓Driver file: licence checks, Driver CPC, D4 medical with the examiner's details, drug and alcohol policy and testing records.
- ✓Any independent audit, the action plan, and dated evidence that each action was closed.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I have to send documents with an operator licence application now?

As of 12 October 2026 the report describes a plan to require supporting documents (except adverts) at submission under the "right first time" programme, without a start date. Sending them with the application now avoids the letter that 75% of applications currently attract.

### What are the VOL text alerts?

A planned service, developed with DVSA, that texts applicants and operators when a letter has been issued to their Vehicle Operator Licensing self-service account. The letter itself stays in the account.

### Can I challenge a dangerous defect recorded on video at annual test?

Yes, through the normal appeal route, but the video sits on the test record for the retest period. Your own dated pre-test photographs and inspection sheet are the only comparable evidence.

### Is the operator licensing reform consultation open?

No. The commissioners say they are hopeful of a consultation and call for evidence later this year. Nothing had been published as of 12 October 2026.

### Primary sources

[**Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain (GOV.UK)**Annual Report 2025 to 2026 and accessible statistics tables, 30 September 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-annual-report-2025-to-2026?ref=logbook.co.uk) [**Office of the Traffic Commissioner (GOV.UK)**Haulier faces licence revocation after director admitted tachograph fraud, 23 July 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/haulier-faces-licence-revocation-after-director-admitted-tachograph-fraud?ref=logbook.co.uk) [**Office of the Traffic Commissioner (GOV.UK)**Recycling operator's fleet halved after widespread tachograph and driver management failures, 31 July 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/recycling-operators-fleet-halved-after-widespread-tachograph-and-driver-management-failures?ref=logbook.co.uk) [**Office of the Traffic Commissioner (GOV.UK)**School minibus operator suspended and fleet cut after serious compliance failings, 25 September 2026](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/school-minibus-operator-suspended-and-fleet-cut-after-serious-compliance-failings?ref=logbook.co.uk) [**DVSA**Video evidence of dangerous defects at HGV and PSV annual test, bulletin, 28 August 2026](https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKDVSA/bulletins/4270374?ref=logbook.co.uk) [**DVSA (GOV.UK)**Heavy goods vehicle fees, updated 15 July 2026 (ATF service charge from 6 July 2026)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heavy-goods-vehicle-fees?ref=logbook.co.uk)