Holders of goods vehicle operator’s licences operate in a highly regulated commercial environment.  Their businesses come into contact not only with the DVSA and Office of the Traffic Commissioner but also with many other government departments and agencies.  There is a duty on an operator to notify all material changes to the traffic commissioner, as failure to do so, may result in regulatory action being taken against the licence.

What constitutes a “material change” is interpreted very widely.  The Senior Traffic Commissioner has recently revised her statutory guidance to specifically include the receipt of enforcement notices as something which will have a serious impact upon repute and which should be notified to the Traffic Commissioner.   The guidance note also refers to the receipt of recurring civil penalties and failure to heed instructions from enforcement agencies.

Receipt of an enforcement notice may initially appear to be totally unrelated to the operator’s licence, but may, at a later stage, have devastating consequences for the operator’s licence.  If a business is having adverse dealings with another government department or agency then the question needs to be asked, will this affect the business’ good repute, does it need to be notified and do I need to seek advice?