The template #
One copy per licence per audit. Tick what you can evidence, write down what you looked at in the evidence column, and put every gap in the actions table at the end with an owner and a date. It follows DVSA’s guide to maintaining roadworthiness and GOV.UK’s operator licensing guidance, and it is a working aid, not a substitute for either.
Click anything in brackets to type over it, then copy, print or download the result. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Operator licence compliance audit
| Operator | [Licence holder’s name] |
|---|---|
| Licence number and type | [Number, standard national, standard international or restricted] |
| Authorisation | [Vehicles and trailers authorised, and in use today] |
| Transport manager | [Name, or not applicable for a restricted licence] |
| Period covered | [From and to] |
| Sample checked | [Which vehicles, drivers and weeks were looked at] |
| Audited by | [Name] |
| Date of the audit | [Date] |
1. The licence and the vehicles on it
| Check | Yes | Evidence seen |
|---|---|---|
| The licence, its type and the vehicle and trailer authorisation are on file, and the number of vehicles in use does not exceed it | ||
| Every vehicle in use is specified on the licence and operates only from an operating centre named on it | ||
| Every vehicle is taxed, insured and has a current MOT | ||
| For a standard licence: the transport manager named on the licence still holds the role and has the time to do it | ||
| Financial standing for the authorisation can be shown if the traffic commissioner asks for it |
2. Maintenance and safety inspections
| Check | Yes | Evidence seen |
|---|---|---|
| A planner, wall chart or system shows safety inspection dates at least 6 months ahead | ||
| Every vehicle and trailer was inspected within its stated frequency for the whole period | ||
| Every safety inspection record is complete: vehicle identity, date and ISO week, inspector, the condition of each item, and the defects found and put right | ||
| Every inspection includes a brake performance assessment | ||
| Wheel re-torque checks after a wheel is removed and refitted are recorded and kept on file | ||
| Safety inspection records are kept for at least 15 months, including for vehicles sold or removed from the licence | ||
| The maintenance contractor named on the licence is the one doing the work, and the arrangement is in writing |
3. Walkaround checks and defect reporting
| Check | Yes | Evidence seen |
|---|---|---|
| A daily walkaround check was done and recorded, in writing, for every vehicle on every day it was used | ||
| Every defect reported by a driver has a rectification recorded against it, or a record that the vehicle was taken off the road | ||
| Nil defect reports are kept (DVSA recommends at least 3 months) | ||
| Driver defect reports and rectification records are kept for at least 15 months |
4. Drivers
| Check | Yes | Evidence seen |
|---|---|---|
| Every driver holds the right licence category for the vehicle they drive, and the check is recorded with its date | ||
| Every driver holds a current Driver CPC, with 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years, and the next deadline is on a list someone looks at |
5. Drivers’ hours and tachographs
| Check | Yes | Evidence seen |
|---|---|---|
| Driver cards downloaded at least every 28 days, vehicle units at least every 90 days, with no gaps | ||
| The data is analysed, not just downloaded, and infringements are raised with the driver and recorded | ||
| Missing mileage and unaccounted time are followed up | ||
| Work is scheduled so the rules can be met | ||
| Drivers hours records can be produced to an enforcement officer for 12 months; working time records are kept for 24 months |
6. Changes, notifications and the risk score
| Check | Yes | Evidence seen |
|---|---|---|
| Any change named on the licence in the period (transport manager, maintenance arrangements, entity, operating centre, address) was notified to the traffic commissioner within 28 days | ||
| Any conviction of the licence holder or staff was notified within 28 days | ||
| Any change in financial status, such as administration, was notified within 28 days | ||
| The latest OCRS report has been read, and any roadside or MOT event on it is understood |
Actions
| What was found | What will be done | Who | By when | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Finding] | [Action] | [Name] | [Date] | |
| [Finding] | [Action] | [Name] | [Date] | |
| [Finding] | [Action] | [Name] | [Date] |
| Signed by the auditor | Date |
| Signed by the transport manager or licence holder | Date |
Is a compliance audit a legal requirement? #
Not on a fixed timetable for every operator. What the law asks is that you can show the traffic commissioner you, and on a standard licence your transport manager, have adequate systems in place, which GOV.UK’s licensing guide describes as management structures, monitoring and reporting systems. DVSA’s roadworthiness guide puts it more plainly: systems for keeping vehicles roadworthy “should be effective, continually monitored and audited”.
An audit stops being optional in two cases:
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When it is written into the licence
A traffic commissioner can accept an undertaking to commission an independent audit, for example after a public inquiry. One decision published on 11 February 2026 shows the usual shape: an audit of the maintenance and drivers’ hours systems by a trade association or an experienced transport consultancy, the unedited report sent to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner by a set date, with a timetable for acting on it.
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When you join earned recognition
DVSA earned recognition members are audited every 2 years by a DVSA-authorised provider, and report their maintenance and drivers’ hours indicators every 4 weeks in between.
For everyone else, an internal audit against a list like this one is how you find out before DVSA does, and a missing inspection record found that way is one you can still put right.
What an auditor looks at, and the standard for each #
| Area | Evidence | Standard or clock |
|---|---|---|
| Safety inspections | Planner, inspection records, brake test results | Within the stated frequency (normally 4 to 13 weeks), planned 6 months ahead, records kept 15 months |
| Defect reporting | Walkaround check sheets, defect reports, rectification records | A check every day the vehicle is used; every defect put right or the vehicle stood down; kept 15 months |
| Drivers | Licence checks, Driver CPC cards and training records | Right category for the vehicle; 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years |
| Drivers’ hours | Tachograph downloads, infringement reports, records of what was done about them | Driver cards every 28 days, vehicle units every 90; records producible for 12 months |
| The licence itself | Vehicle list, operating centres, notifications | Within authorisation, from named centres, changes notified within 28 days |
Where the Operator Compliance Risk Score fits #
DVSA uses the Operator Compliance Risk Score to decide whose vehicles to stop. It is worked out per licence from DVSA’s own events over a rolling 3 years, MOTs, roadside inspections, site visits and desk-based assessments, and places an operator in a band: green for low risk, amber for medium, red for high, grey for no history and blue for earned recognition members. You can read your report through DVSA’s online services with a Vehicle Operator Licensing account.
An audit does not appear on the score. What it changes is the events the score is made of, which is why the last section of the template asks whoever audits to read the report first.
How to use it well #
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Sample, then follow the trail
Pick a handful of vehicles and drivers and a few weeks, and follow each one through every record: inspection, walkaround checks, defects, downloads. A gap in one place usually shows up in the next.
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Write down what you looked at
The evidence column is what makes this an audit rather than an opinion. A tick with nothing beside it will not convince a traffic commissioner.
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Give every gap an owner and a date
An action with no name against it is still a finding at the next audit.
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Keep the completed audits
A run of audits, each closing the actions of the last, is the clearest evidence there is of the monitoring and reporting systems the licence asks for.
What keeping this up by hand costs #
Almost every line in the template is a date compared with a rule: an inspection inside its frequency, a download inside 28 days, a record inside 15 months, a notification inside 28 days. Finding the gaps is arithmetic. Deciding whether a vehicle goes out, what a pattern of defects says about a maintenance provider, or how to talk to a driver about an infringement, is the transport manager’s job, and nothing on this page changes that.
What operator licence paperwork actually involves sets out the undertakings and the clocks they start, and tachograph download deadlines covers the 28 and 90 day cycle in detail. The task sorter separates the arithmetic in your own transport office from the judgement.