Keeping commercial vehicles safe to drive (roadworthy)
How to keep heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and public service vehicles (PSVs) safe to drive, including daily checks, inspections, maintenance and record keeping.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
This guide explains the responsibilities and systems involved in keeping vehicles in a roadworthy condition, regardless of operating conditions, fleet size or vehicle type. This includes HGVs, vans, buses and coaches.
It includes guidance on:
- daily checks and inspections
- inspection and repair facilities
- regular safety inspections
- responsibilities for roadworthiness
- monitoring
You cannot buy printed copies of the guide, but you’re allowed to print your own copies.
Details
This guide explains the responsibilities and systems involved in keeping vehicles in a roadworthy condition, regardless of operating conditions, fleet size or vehicle type. This includes HGVs, vans, buses and coaches.
It includes guidance on:
- daily checks and inspections
- inspection and repair facilities
- regular safety inspections
- responsibilities for roadworthiness
- monitoring
You cannot buy printed copies of the guide, but you’re allowed to print your own copies.
Updates to this page
Update history
2025-04-28 10:00
Updated to the latest version of the guide to maintaining roadworthiness. Updates include:section 1.1. Best practice, added information on legal duties for operators to the section on maintaining compliance section 3. Daily walkaround checks, added information on additional checks for vehicles used in arduous conditionssection 5. Maintenance Provision Rating Scheme (MPRS), added information on scheme objectives section 5.3. Braking performance assessment, clarified requirementssection 5.4. EBPMS parking brake assessment, updated guidance in this section
2024-12-05 14:59
Updated telephone number for Logistics UK in Annex 8.
2024-11-05 10:13
Updated to the latest version of the guide to maintaining roadworthiness. Updates include: added HTML version of the guideadded advice on outsourcing maintenance work to section ‘5. Safety inspections and repair facilities’added guidance on using a decelerometer to section ‘5.3 Braking performance assessment’ added new section ‘5.3a Braking performance assessment from April 2025’.added more guidance on how to use EBPMS to section ‘5.4 electronic braking performance monitoring system (EBPMS)’ update to section ‘6.2 What happens at the end of the test’ to show that test certificates are no longer printed out when a vehicle passes a test.added example risk assessment to ‘Annex 7 performance risk assessment’
2023-04-18 12:38
Updated to the latest version of the ‘Guide to maintaining roadworthiness: commercial goods and passenger carrying vehicles.