Institute of Transport Administration

Driver Wellbeing - A Traffic Commissioners’ View

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0000

As Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain, our statutory role is to regulate the operation of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and public service vehicles (PSVs) in the interests of road safety, fair competition and public confidence.

Driver welfare is sometimes seen as a peripheral employment issue.

This article sets out why driver welfare matters to the regulatory system, where the most significant risks currently lie, and how recent evidence, including research undertaken by Loughborough University, supports a more preventative and evidence‑based approach.

Driver Welfare and the Regulatory Framework

The Traffic Commissioners do not regulate “welfare” as a standalone concept.

Operator licensing and repute
Drivers’ hours and working time compliance
Road safety and professional standards

However, welfare deficiencies frequently manifest themselves through compliance failures.

From our perspective, welfare is therefore a necessary foundation for lawful and safe operation, not an optional enhancement.

Further information:

HGV drivers are being warned against being recruited by people smuggling gangs after five men involved in hiding people in lorries to transport them to France were found guilty of people smuggling.

These latest convictions, following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) mean 21 members of the East London-based network have now been brought to justice.

The gang operated by using minicabs to transport people down from London to Kent, where they were met by HGVs driven by hauliers recruited by and paid for by members of the gang.

Further information: Seven business groups have formed the Road Pricing Coalition as the UK prepares to change how road use is taxed.

The Chancellor faces pressure on public finances and an increasingly urgent need to address declining fuel-duty revenues.

Fuel duty and vehicle excise duty (VED) generate over £33bn annually.

Yet road use continues: vehicles travelled 342.

Its launch report, Paying for our Roads: The decline of fuel-duty revenues and the choices ahead, examines the fiscal challenge, Government choices in the years ahead and lessons from road-charging systems worldwide.

The coalition says the motoring-tax debate is only beginning, and road-dependent businesses must be involved before wider decisions are fixed.

A new association dedicated to connecting, supporting and championing women across the road transport industry in the UK and Ireland will officially launch with a firewalk event in Coventry on Friday 27 November 2026.

The Women’s Association of Trucking UK & Ireland (WATUKI) has been founded by Claire McKinlay and Laura Muir, with the aim of building a supportive and inclusive community for women working across all areas of the transport and logistics sector.

Recognising the important contributions women make throughout the industry, the association welcomes professional HGV drivers, transport managers, fleet operators, business owners, logistics professionals and women working in administrative, planning and management roles.

Under the message “Connecting & Championing Women in Trucking”, the association aims to provide a platform where women can share experiences, celebrate achievements, access professional development opportunities and contribute to positive change within the industry.

Further information:

Efforts to tackle HGV crime at known hot spots in Yorkshire are ramping up in the run-up to Christmas, with police acknowledging it was a time of heightened risk.
Officers from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (YHROCU) have teamed up with NaVCIS to mount increased activity at identified places across the region.
As part of the campaign, officers are running driver engagement evenings alongside increased overt and covert activity during the evenings at HGV parking sites.
A similar operation in the summer saw six people arrested in raids at addresses in Leeds as part of an investigation into organised theft of cargo from lorries.

Further information: DVLA is required to record vehicle details for road safety and law enforcement.
DVLA will only consider changing the body type to ‘motor caravan’ (motor home) if the vehicle can meet the internal and external features.
While DVLA will consider all applications for a change to body type, there will be certain vehicles with an original frame or outer structure that is so distinctive in appearance that the body type description cannot be changed from the initial manufactured design, for example, a bus.
Even if the vehicle’s body type is not changed to ‘motor caravan’, the vehicle can still be used for this purpose as long as the keeper is satisfied the converted vehicle meets It is the responsibility of the vehicle keeper to make sure that any alterations made to the vehicle do not compromise its safety.
The issue of relying on self-employed drivers has surfaced again at a public inquiry, with the traffic commissioner determining that a Spalding international operator was no longer in control and lacked continuous management.
Nored Transport, which held a licence for six HGVs and three trailers, appeared before Eastern region TC Richard Turfitt after one of its drivers told the DVSA at the roadside he was in control as a self-employed driver and invoiced the firm for his services.
In response to the DVSA’s subsequent inquiries, the operator admitted its drivers were engaged on a self-employed basis, or a limited company contractor basis.
A DVSA traffic examiner then began an investigation into the firm and found drivers were employed on a contract basis as limited companies and identified a lack of management control and inadequate disciplinary procedures.
Nored Transport then attempted to begin moving drivers into PAYE employment, and at a preliminary hearing the operator said two had eventually agreed, with another two leaving for work at other companies.
The TC accepted that the operator had struggled as a result of being let down by its drivers: “This is a case where the behaviour of the drivers described by the operator risked the impression that they thought they could be in control,” he said.
“Where a transport manager finds himself overridden, then he can expect his repute to be put at issue.
“This was very far from effective and continuous management.
Its licence was revoked.

Further information:

Home delivery vehicles make up a growing proportion of bridge strike incidents and a lack of training and drivers under pressure to complete drops are blamed for the increase.
According to Network Rail, there were 1,532 railway bridge strikes between April 2023 and March 2024, but despite publicity campaigns and threats to driver and operator licences, this number increased to 1,666 between 2024 and 2025.
There are between nine and 12 reported bridge strikes every day in the UK with around 80% involving HGVs.
The traffic commissioners reissued guidance to operators in 2024, underscoring measures to prevent strikes and the issue is often addressed in regulatory proceedings, where licence revocation is possible.
Speaking recently at a training course for operators organised by Beverley Bell Consulting, Rick Wenham, the Metropolitan Police’s former head of the commercial vehicle unit, said the main reasons were drivers not measuring loads, not following a truck-specific sat-nav, or “blatant stupidity”.
But he also said that a reason for the number increasing was that growing awareness about the problem meant incidents were more likely to be reported now as well.
Deputy traffic commissioner Nick Denton said: “Maybe the driver has not been trained; they are driving a 3.

Further information:

With the UK preparing for a fundamental shift in how road use is taxed, seven business groups have joined force to create the Road Pricing Coalition.
The Chancellor is facing significant pressure on the public finances and an increasingly urgent challenge over how road use will be taxed as fuel-duty revenues decline.
Fuel duty raised around £24.
At the same time, road use is not disappearing: vehicles travelled 342.
To coincide with the coalition’s launch, it has published The report sets out the scale of the challenge created by declining fuel-duty revenues, looks at how other countries have responded, and examines some of the considerations the UK Government will need to make in the years ahead.
Rather than backing a particular model, the coalition argues that any future reform should first meet five tests to ensure it is fair, workable and supports the wider economy.
The Government has already begun that transition through Battery-electric and hydrogen cars will initially pay 3p per mile and plug-in hybrids 1.
The coalition says this means the debate over the future of motoring taxation is only beginning, and that businesses which rely on the road network need to be involved before wider decisions are fixed.

Further information:

New railway station for Bradford

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Bradford’s connections with some of the North’s largest cities, including Leeds, Manchester and York, will be transformed as passengers will be able to benefit from more frequent trains, improved journey times and reliability.
The Bradford Interchange site unlocks the potential to regenerate Bradford’s Southern Gateway, and in tandem with the proposed West Yorkshire Mass Transit, would support thousands of new homes, jobs and up to £1 billion in economic benefits.
The announcement marks a major milestone in the delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and the government’s mission to drive growth in every postcode.
The station will also become part of Great British Railways (GBR), the new publicly owned railway that will bring track and train together, helping deliver a more reliable, efficient and passenger-focused railway.
Deputy Traffic Commissioner Giles Pengelly has revoked the operator’s licence held by Birmingham-based Mr Scaffolding after concluding that directors Martin Ray and David Price could no longer be trusted to run a compliant operation.

The decision followed a DVSA maintenance investigation prompted by a prohibition issued on 10 November 2025.

The company failed to resolve recurring problems with insecure loads despite earlier enforcement action and driver training.

Brake tests were not consistently carried out during PMIs, including loaded brake tests that the operator had expressly promised the DVSA it would complete.
PMIs were of poor quality, imperilling road safety and disadvantaging compliant competitors.
Wheel-security and tyre-safety checks were inadequately documented.
Drivers were not properly integrated into the safety system and continued to carry out walkaround checks inadequately.
Although the company blamed its maintenance providers, Pengelly stressed that responsibility for vehicle safety remained with the operator, regardless of who performed the work.
Pengelly said the company’s recent improvement was largely attributable to its new consultants rather than to action taken by the directors.

Almost 19,000 drivers were captured using their mobile phone or not wearing a seatbelt during a two-week trial of new cameras powered by

The AI cameras used in the pilot, which took place in March, were positioned in Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Initial image scans found the Birmingham camera recorded 11,144 potential non-use of seat belt offences and 1,163 potential mobile phone offences.

The camera in Wolverhampton, meanwhile, recorded 6,081 potential seatbelt offences and 757 potential mobile phone offences.

Among the images captured is a front-seat passenger with a small child on their lap with no seatbelt, leaving the toddler completely unprotected in the event of a collision.

It is one of dozens of images of children being driven without age-appropriate restraints.
In another case a driver was captured holding their mobile phone with both hands, eyes on the screen rather than the road.

Approximately 2,000 motorists a year in the West Midlands are fined and given penalty points for driving while using a mobile phone.

There was no follow up enforcement of the violations this time due to the cameras being used in a trial.

Further information:

Police in Staffordshire said they would be reporting haulage companies to the traffic commissioner after their trucks were pulled over for road traffic offences.

Officers working alongside National Highways patrolled the county’s road network in an unmarked lorry to spot drivers committing offences as part of Operation Tramline.

The force’s road crime team involved in the operation across the A38, A5, A34, A50, A449, M6 and M54 reported 10 drivers for mobile phone offences, including four HGV drivers.

An additional four people were reported for seatbelt offences and three other vehicles stopped for being in a dangerous condition.

Staffordshire police said: “Alongside this, one HGV driver was reported for having an insecure load and another one was reported for being four tonnes overweight.

“The HGV companies will also be reported to the traffic commissioner for possible further action.

Further information:

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has published A Checklist for Rail Strategies, a practical framework designed to help Government, Great British Railways (GBR), devolved authorities and industry test whether the UK's growing family of rail, transport and place strategies work together as a coherent, deliverable system.

The digitalization of logistics documentation continues to advance in Spain with a new requirement for road freight transport: the Administrative Control Document must be managed electronically.

The Administrative Control Document, also known as the control document, is the mandatory document required for public road freight transport within Spain.

The requirement itself is not new, the document has already been mandatory for years.

Further information:

STC consultation on local bus service performance standards

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The Senior Traffic Commissioner has issued a consultation seeking views from operators, local authorities, passenger groups and other stakeholders on whether current standards remain fit for purpose and how they should evolve to reflect changes in the industry, legislation and technology.

Statutory Document No.

The consultation focuses in particular on whether the longstanding expectation that 95% of services operate within a window of one minute early to five minutes late remains appropriate in 2026, whether clearer guidance is needed where performance falls below expectations, including the role of improvement plans before formal regulatory action is taken.

Consultation:

Annual report about major aspects of the Traffic Commissioners' judicial, regulatory and administrative roles between 2025 and 2026

Two HGV drivers have been prosecuted after they breached weight restrictions while travelling through a Berkshire village.
Enforcement officers from the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) spotted the lorries exceeding the limit.
An 18 tonne HGV and a 23.
A PPP spokesperson said: “It is an offence to drive a vehicle through a restricted area where the vehicle exceeds the weight limit imposed, unless delivering or collecting items within the weight restriction.