This page gives general practical information, not advice about the likely result of an individual case.
Traffic Commissioners regulate operator licensing in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has a different operator-licensing system and should not be treated as part of the GB public inquiry process described here.
Why a transport manager may be called
A public inquiry can follow concerns about the operator, the transport manager or both.
The underlying information may come from DVSA investigations, roadside encounters, prohibitions, compliance assessments or other evidence received by the Traffic Commissioner.
Issues involving a transport manager can include:
- ineffective vehicle maintenance control
- failures in drivers’ hours or tachograph management
- repeated or serious infringements
- poor driver defect systems
- failure to keep required records
- breaches of operator licence undertakings or conditions
- unreported changes affecting the licence
- concerns about the transport manager’s actual involvement
- questions about good repute or professional competence.
A Transport Manager CPC certificate and nomination do not mean someone has permanent approval to act on every operator licence. The individual must be accepted for the particular licence and continue to meet the applicable requirements.
Start with the calling-in letter
Do not prepare for a public inquiry from memory or from somebody else’s description of the problem.
Read the notice and accompanying directions carefully. Identify the grounds being considered, the records requested and the dates by which anything must be supplied.
Create a working list from those requirements.
If documents have been requested, locate them early enough to identify gaps. Leaving the exercise until shortly before the hearing can turn an explainable record problem into an additional failure to comply with directions.
The bundle may include DVSA reports, correspondence, inspection records and other evidence. Read it properly and compare it with the operator’s own files.
Prepare evidence that shows what actually happened
A transport manager should be able to explain how they exercised continuous and effective management.
Useful evidence depends on the issues but may include:
- preventive maintenance inspection records
- defect reports and repair evidence
- maintenance planners
- tachograph download and analysis reports
- infringement records
- driver instruction and training evidence
- internal audit reports
- remedial action logs
- operator licence records
- correspondence about unresolved compliance concerns.
Do not produce a large file merely to create volume. Organise the evidence around the matters raised in the notice.
Where a record is missing, establish the position rather than inventing an explanation.
Be ready to explain your own management
The Traffic Commissioner may want to understand what the transport manager personally did, not merely what systems the company owned.
Be prepared to explain your working arrangements, time commitment, access to records, contact with drivers, oversight of contractors and authority to make compliance decisions.
Tasks can be delegated. Responsibility cannot simply be handed away with them.
If another employee handled maintenance administration or tachograph analysis, the transport manager should still be able to explain how that work was supervised and what happened when problems arose.
For an external transport manager, practical capacity may also be relevant. An external transport manager can normally act for no more than four operators and a combined maximum of 50 vehicles. A Traffic Commissioner may consider a lower level appropriate where the circumstances require it.
Candour matters
A public inquiry is the wrong setting for a story that changes whenever another document appears.
If something went wrong, establish the facts and explain them accurately. Distinguish between what you know from your own involvement, what the records show and what somebody else has told you.
Do not minimise a clear failure by blaming an administrator, driver or maintenance contractor without examining your own management responsibility.
Equally, avoid accepting an allegation simply because it appears in a report. If records provide a proper factual explanation, identify them clearly.
Remedial action should be real and measurable
Corrective work completed before the hearing can be relevant, but its value depends on what was actually done.
For example, saying that maintenance will improve is much weaker than showing revised inspection controls, completed audits and evidence that overdue actions have been cleared.
A useful remedial record explains:
- what failed
- why it failed
- what immediate risk was dealt with
- what system was changed
- who now owns the action
- how effectiveness has been checked.
Timing also matters. Work started promptly after a problem was identified tells a different story from measures introduced only after the inquiry notice arrived.
Understand periods of grace properly
A period of grace is not an automatic entitlement.
Where an existing standard licence temporarily fails to meet a continuing requirement, legislation may allow the Traffic Commissioner to give time for the position to be corrected in appropriate circumstances.
For professional competence, official guidance describes three months as a starting point where there is tangible evidence that the requirement can be met. The decision remains discretionary and depends on the individual circumstances.
An operator should therefore not assume that losing its nominated transport manager automatically produces several months to find another one.
Possible outcomes vary
A Traffic Commissioner can take different forms of regulatory action depending on the case.
For an operator licence, possibilities can include conditions, reduced authority, suspension or revocation. Applications or variations may also be refused.
A transport manager’s good repute and professional competence can be considered separately. Where the required standards are no longer met, consequences can include disqualification from acting as a transport manager and requirements connected with rehabilitation.
No guide can predict which outcome will follow from a particular set of facts.
Check the current guidance
Read the official Guide to Traffic Commissioner hearings when preparing to understand the hearing process.
The statutory guidance on transport managers explains the expectations surrounding professional competence, repute and continuous and effective management.
Where significant regulatory action is being considered, an operator or transport manager may also decide to obtain legal advice from a solicitor experienced in operator licensing.
Keep your professional position properly documented
Transport managers should keep evidence of the work they actually perform, including audits, instructions, remedial actions and significant correspondence with the operator.
For transport managers who want a professional profile for future opportunities, registration is available through External Transport Manager.
FAQs
Does being called to a public inquiry mean the transport manager will be disqualified?
No. The hearing considers the evidence and the issues identified. The eventual decision depends on the findings and circumstances.
Can a transport manager simply resign before the hearing?
Resignation does not necessarily remove consideration of conduct while the person was acting as transport manager or prevent an existing hearing from proceeding.
Should every document in the transport office be taken to the inquiry?
Not automatically. Follow the notice and case directions, then organise relevant supporting evidence so the issues can be addressed clearly.
Is completed remedial work guaranteed to prevent regulatory action?
No. Corrective action can be relevant, but the Traffic Commissioner considers the underlying failures, timing, evidence and wider circumstances.