Scope and evidence request
We agree the fleet, sites and depth of the audit, then request records in advance.
Fixed quotes, reply within one working day
An independent audit of the systems, records and driver documentation behind your operator licence, with rated findings, the evidence behind each one and a priority-ordered action list.
What an operator compliance audit examines, how the findings are reported, and how each one is closed with dated evidence.
Clear, practical support written around the operation you run and the evidence an examiner expects to see.
We agree the fleet, sites and depth of the audit, then request records in advance.
We sample records, watch checks in the yard and talk to the people running the systems.
You get rated findings, the evidence behind each one and a priority-ordered action list.
We help close each finding with dated evidence and verify it at the agreed interval.
We work through the issues in a clear order, connecting the records, instructions and corrective work.
You get practical preparation, clear priorities and no vague reassurance.
There are two ways to discover the state of your compliance systems: commission an operator compliance audit on your own timetable, or wait for DVSA to run one on theirs. The findings will be broadly the same. The consequences will not.
Our audits are built on more than 20 years of sitting on the operator's side of DVSA investigations, desk based assessments and Traffic Commissioner public inquiries. We know which documents examiners request, in what order, and what they do when the paperwork does not reconcile, so that is exactly how we test. An audit that produces a polite score and a certificate is of limited use; a transport compliance audit that finds what the regulator would find, while there is still time to fix it quietly, is one of the best purchases an operator can make. Independent audits are among the undertakings most commonly recorded on licences at public inquiry.
A proper operator compliance audit examines the machinery of compliance, not just its output. Across a day or more on site, depending on fleet size, we work through:
We also talk to the people. Ten minutes with a driver or a workshop foreman reveals whether the written system is the real system, and examiners use exactly the same technique.
Because driver documentation is our specialism, our operator compliance audit goes deeper here than most. We check that the handbook matches the operation it describes: right vehicle types, right hours regime, current defect procedure, current policies on phones, alcohol and drugs. We check the issue trail: does every driver on the current run sheets have a signed acknowledgement for the current version, agency drivers included. And we check for the quiet failures: identical walkaround ticks for weeks, defect books that have never recorded a defect, infringement letters that were printed and never discussed.
These details decide investigations. When DVSA finds a fleet where the paperwork says one thing and the drivers do another, every other record loses credibility with it. When the driver file is coherent from induction to last toolbox talk, the whole operation reads as managed. Our audit tells you which of those two fleets you currently are, with the evidence attached.
Every operator compliance audit ends in a written report structured the way operators actually use it. Every area is rated so a director can see the shape of the operation at a glance, each finding is stated plainly with the evidence behind it, and each carries a specific recommendation with a suggested owner and timescale. Critical items, the ones that would attract a prohibition or a referral if found at the roadside or in an investigation, are flagged first, separated from the improvements that can wait a quarter.
The report is written to be shown, not hidden. Operators put our audits in front of Traffic Commissioners as evidence of proactive management, submit them in response to DVSA findings, and use them to evidence audit undertakings recorded on their licence. Some clients ask us to align the format with a scheme they already work under, such as a trade association or accreditation scheme standard, and we do. What we will not do is soften findings; a flattering audit fails you at exactly the moment you need it to hold up.
An audit that ends at the report is half a job. The value sits in remediation, and we stay for it. That can mean rebuilding the inspection planner, rewriting the defect reporting procedure, re-issuing the driver handbook with fresh acknowledgements, setting up infringement debrief templates, or training the transport manager on the records the systems should produce. Each finding gets closed with dated evidence, so the audit file shows problem, fix and proof in one line of sight.
For operators under audit undertakings, we schedule the cycle: audit, remediate, evidence, repeat at the promised interval, with the paper trail a Traffic Commissioner expects to see. For everyone else we recommend the same rhythm annually, or six-monthly for fleets with recent history. A transport compliance audit repeated on a cycle stops being an inspection and becomes a management tool: each round starts from the last report, and the finding count falls until the audit is confirming a well run operation rather than rescuing one.
We audit haulage and van fleets, PSV operators, plant and construction transport, and mixed operations, from two vehicles to several hundred, across every traffic area. Some clients come to us after a nudge: an OCRS score moving the wrong way, a first prohibition, a desk based assessment letter, or a call-up to public inquiry where an operator compliance audit is suddenly urgent. The wiser ones come before any of that, because an audit with nothing at stake is cheaper in every sense.
If you already hold audit reports from another provider, we are happy to start from them and test whether the findings were closed. If you have never had an independent operator compliance audit, the first one is the most valuable you will ever commission: it establishes the true baseline, and everything we build with you afterwards, handbooks included, stands on that ground.
Every document is shaped by transport managers and compliance specialists with more than 20 years of experience, including DVSA investigations, Public Inquiries and Traffic Commissioner hearings.
Get a quoteTypically one day on site for a small to mid-size fleet, longer for larger or multi-depot operations, with the written report following shortly after. Record sampling can start remotely to keep the on-site time efficient.
We scope the audit against the undertaking exactly as it is recorded on your licence, report findings, evidence and recommendations in the form commissioners expect from an independent audit, and schedule repeat audits at the stated interval. Acceptance always remains a matter for the Traffic Commissioner.
It is a review of the systems behind your operator licence, the same ground our standard audit covers: maintenance, drivers' hours and tachographs, records, driver management and licence administration. If a client or scheme specifies a particular framework, we align the report to it.
Yes. We observe walkaround checks, review driver files and talk to drivers, because the gap between written procedure and yard practice is where investigations are lost. The handbook and its acknowledgement trail get particular attention.
We tell you immediately, not in the report two weeks later, and we help you fix it with honest dating. An audit finding corrected and evidenced is a strength; the same issue found first by DVSA is a case.
Something else on your mind? Call 020 8088 8371 or use the form below.
Get a clear recommendation from transport managers and compliance specialists with more than 20 years of experience, including DVSA investigations, Public Inquiries and Traffic Commissioner hearings.
