DVSA – Office of the Traffic Commissioner

We are proud to play a vital role in making Great Britain’s roads among the safest in the world, and you can help.

Traffic commissioners are responsible for the licensing and regulation of those which operate and drive heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, and the registration of local bus services.

Although appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, the Traffic Commissioners are not civil servants and are independent from government.

There are eight traffic commissioners – appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport and one Northern Ireland Regulator.

We have nine offices across Great Britain:

Eastern – Cambridge
North Eastern – Leeds
North Western – Golborne
Scotland – Edinburgh
South Eastern and Metropolitan – Eastbourne
Wales – Pontypridd
West Midlands – Birmingham
Western – Bristol

Operator Licensing Team

The Licensing teams are responsible for:

processing and consideration of applications for HGV/PSV operator licences
processing changes to existing licences
issuing documentation for operator licences
answering operator and applicant queries

OTC Licensing has seven teams which are all based in Leeds:

Front End Processing (FEP)
Bus Registrations team
Goods Vehicle team
Public Service Vehicle (PSV)
Environmental (ENV) team
Multiple Licence Holder (MLH) team
Northern Ireland licensing

Hearing Centres

Hearing Centres are predominantly responsible for overseeing proceedings for public inquiries, preliminary hearings, driver conduct hearings and adversarial impounding hearings. Duties include:

preparing hearing Bundles for Public Inquiries and Preliminary Hearings
clerking responsibilities
issuing regulatory decisions
answering any queries from the operators, transport manager and legal representatives regarding hearings and preparing bundles for appeals

The Hearing Centres are based in eight offices across Great Britain:

Bristol
Eastbourne
Edinburgh
Leeds
Golborne
Pontypridd
Birmingham
Cambridge

A large tipper truck driving through an industrial construction site.

National Compliance

National Compliance is responsible for the following and can be based in any OTC office:

referring compliance issues to the Traffic Commissioners
issuing regulatory letters
answering any queries from the operators
loss of Transport Managers
reports received from DVSA

Driver Conduct

Driver Conduct is a part of National Compliance, and they can be based in any OTC office.

Driver Conduct is responsible for supporting Traffic Commissioners in their regulatory duties of:

answering any queries from the drivers
drivers who hold vocational entitlement in Great Britain
referring non-compliant drivers to the Traffic Commissioners
preparing Driver Conduct Bundles (tribunal paperwork) for Driver Conduct Hearings
clerking responsibilities
issuing decisions and conduct letters

Quality, Training & Continuous Development (QTCD)

QTCD can be based in any OTC office across Great Britain and is responsible for the following:

internal quality assurance audits
recruitment into the Office of the Traffic Commissioner
new starter training
continuous training staff members may require
maintaining letter standards
maintaining Operating Instructions

Traffic Commissioners Corporate Office (TCCO)

TCCO can be based in any OTC office across Great Britain and are responsible for the following:

acting as the vital link between Traffic Commissioners, the Department for Transport, and industry partners
managing official correspondence, including MP letters and stakeholder engagement
overseeing access and upholding the highest standards of Data Protection
developing and implementing policy, providing strategic advice and supporting governance to the Traffic Commissioner Board
coordinating engagement activities such as press enquiries, drafting the annual report, and publishing information to promote transparency