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Institute of Transport Administration

Educating Transport Management since 1944

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Recovery Vehicle Operators - Guidance

29 Sep 2025

Running a vehicle recovery business: driver and vehicle safety rules

The guidance is not a legal document, but intended to address some of the basic questions regarding recovery vehicle operation for vehicle operators and drivers to assist in dealing with the uncertainty of legal requirements as to the operation of recovery vehicles.  For full details of the law, legal advice and/or reference to legislation will be required.

Confusion regarding recovery vehicle operation may have arisen due to the various classifications of vehicles used in the recovery industry.  The variations in the definition are further complicated because one might refer to the construction of a vehicle and another to how a vehicle is being used.

Because of this, noncompliance has been identified both within the industry and in enforcement. For these reasons, this guide tries to introduce greater clarity on rules which, at times, can be fairly complex.

It’s also the case that some of the rules which have been in place for many years need to be interpreted in a common-sense way. So efforts to help do this have been included where appropriate.

Read the Guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-for-recovery-operations/running-a-vehicle-recovery-business-driver-and-vehicle-safety-rules