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Plating and annual test
The ministry plate and the annual test certificate for a goods vehicle or trailer.
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
Most heavy goods vehicles and trailers must be plated and pass an annual test (the HGV equivalent of an MOT) at a DVSA test station. The plate shows the permitted weights. The certificate shows the test pass. The vehicle must not be used on the road if the test has expired, apart from a journey to a pre-booked test in the circumstances GOV.UK describes.
Who holds it
The operator should hold the current certificate and be able to show the plate or plating certificate for each vehicle and trailer. The driver should know the expiry date before they take the vehicle out.
At a visit
DVSA and the police can prohibit a vehicle with an expired annual test. At a maintenance investigation, missing certificates are read as a gap in the forward-planning system, not only a filing error.