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 nine traffic commissioners – appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport and one Northern Ireland Regulator.
- Eastern – Cambridge
- North Eastern – Leeds
- North Western – Golborne
- Scotland – Edinburgh
- South Eastern and Metropolitan – Eastbourne
- Wales – Caernarfon
- 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:
- ensuring the fair and lawful delivery of public inquiries, preliminary hearings and impounding hearings
- preparing formal notifications to summon all relevant parties to attend a hearing
- collating evidence and preparing hearing bundles
- clerking responsibilities
- issuing and publishing regulatory decisions
- answering any queries from the operators, transport manager and legal representatives regarding hearings
- preparing bundles for appeals
The Hearing Centres are based in nine offices across Great Britain:
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Caernarfon
- Cambridge
- Eastbourne
- Edinburgh
- Golborne
- Leeds
- Pontypridd
National Compliance
National Compliance can be based in any OTC office and their duties include:
- referring non-compliant operators to the Traffic Commissioners for consideration of regulatory action
- preparing cases received from DVSA examiners or the Police and ensuring accurate information is presented to Traffic Commissioners
- issuing regulatory letters, including revocation letters
- processing operators who fail to meet the requirements to hold a licence, such as lacking a designated Transport Manager
- preparing statements for prosecution
- answering any queries from the operators or transport managers
- preparing bundles for appeals
Driver Conduct
Driver Conduct is a part of National Compliance, and they can be based in any OTC office.
Driver Conduct are responsible for supporting Traffic Commissioners in their regulation of drivers who hold vocational entitlement in Great Britain. Duties include:
- referring non-compliant drivers to the Traffic Commissioners for consideration of regulatory action
- ensuring the fair and lawful delivery of hearings
- collating evidence and preparing hearing bundles
- clerking responsibilities
- issuing decisions
- working collaboratively with DVLA to ensure vocational driver records are accurate
- answering any queries from vocational drivers
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
Interested in hearing about OTC vacancies? Sign up for DVSA email job alerts!
Register for alerts
Be the first to hear about OTC roles by signing up for jobs of the week.
Register an account and click ‘Jobs at DVSA’ to be in the know when new jobs get released!
Submit your application with confidence
We host general ‘How to Apply’ webinars on Eventbrite on the last Tuesday of every month, in which we talk you through our application process.