Goods vehicle operator licences: what your business needs, and what your haulier must hold

According to the government's operator licensing guide, you will usually need a goods vehicle operator's licence if you use a goods vehicle of over 3.5 tonnes gross plated weight, or with an unladen weight of more than 1,525 kg where there is no plated weight, to carry goods for hire or reward or in connection with a trade or business. For a vehicle and trailer combination, the combined weights decide.

The purpose of licensing, as the guide puts it, is to ensure goods vehicles are used safely and properly, to keep competition fair through consistent rules and to protect the environment around operating centres. Licences are issued by the Traffic Commissioners.

Source: gov.uk

A restricted licence usually allows a business to carry only its own goods, within the UK and the EU. It suits a builders' merchant delivering its own materials or a manufacturer moving its own products. A standard national licence allows a business to carry its own goods in the UK or abroad, and other people's goods for hire or reward within the UK only. A standard international licence allows both, in the UK and on international journeys, and comes with a UK Licence for the Community.

Licences covering vehicles over 3.5 tonnes are heavy goods vehicle licences. Separately, carrying goods for hire or reward in vans in Europe also requires an operator's licence and a transport manager.

• restricted: own goods only
• standard national: own goods, plus others' goods for hire or reward within the UK
• standard international: others' goods for hire or reward in the UK and abroad
• van operations in Europe for hire or reward: licence and transport manager needed

Source: gov.uk

All applicants and licence holders, restricted and standard, must be fit to hold a licence, which takes account of relevant convictions and of their ability to obey the rules and meet the licence's conditions and undertakings. They must show systems for drivers' hours, preventing overloading, correct driver licensing and vehicle maintenance, and heavy goods vehicle licences must specify an operating centre where vehicles are kept. Every licence holder must also show financial standing: money available for the life of the licence to keep vehicles fit and serviceable. For standard licences, a transport manager is part of the assessment as well.

For a business buying transport, this is useful: a haulier with a standard licence has been assessed on these points, and the licence can be checked on the public register.

Financial standing is not a fee. The guide stresses that it is resources that must remain available while the licence is held, which is one reason a haulier's licence status is a reasonable proxy for basic stability when you choose a carrier.

Source: gov.uk

Ask for the operator licence number and check it: that the licence is valid, that it is a standard licence if the haulier carries goods for others, and that the business name matches. For international work, check that it holds a standard international licence. Ask how the haulier maintains its vehicles and how it manages drivers' hours, and whether it subcontracts loads to other operators.

The contract should state which conditions of carriage apply and the limit of the haulier's liability for loss or damage, and whether you need your own goods in transit insurance. International road carriage is usually governed by the CMR Convention, which sets its own liability rules.

Source: gov.uk · legislation.gov.uk

If you need a freight quote, describe the goods, weights, route and timing in our request form. It goes to exactly one transport business that buys it; we email you its name, address and phone number before it receives your details. The service is free for you. Offrano checks that buyers are registered businesses but not their operator licence, so check the licence yourself.