Home / Statutory documents / Operator licence
Maintenance arrangements
How safety inspections and repairs are done, including any contract with a provider.
This is general information for UK goods-vehicle operators. It is not legal advice. Use the official source on this page, and your operator licence conditions, before you rely on it.
What it is
Every operator undertakes to keep vehicles and trailers fit and serviceable. If you do not carry out safety inspections yourself, you must have arrangements with a maintenance provider and give the traffic commissioner a copy of that contract when asked. You remain responsible for roadworthiness even when the work is contracted out. The Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness explains how those arrangements should work in practice.
Who holds it
The operator holds the contract or in-house procedure, the inspection interval declared to the traffic commissioner, and the name of the person responsible for the system.
At a visit
Examiners ask who inspects the vehicles, how often, where the records are, and whether defects are actually closed. A contract that nobody follows is treated as no system.