An operator licence carries a commitment to keep vehicles roadworthy and to inspect them at set intervals, and DVSA mostly finds out whether you kept it at the roadside, at the annual test and in your records. For a Burton upon Trent operator whose trucks spend their days between warehouses, breweries and the A38, a missed or hurried inspection tends to show up in the worst possible place.
What our inspections look at
We inspect against DVSA's published standards, including its Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness. That covers the brakes and air system with a check of brake performance, steering and suspension, tyres, wheels and wheel fixings, lights and electrics, the chassis, body and coupling gear, the cab and the driver's view, and anything leaking. Defects are repaired and checked again before we sign the vehicle off, so the inspection sheet describes the vehicle that drives away, not the one that came in.
Town deliveries leave their marks
Vehicles delivering into the middle of Burton, to Coopers Square, the Octagon Shopping Centre on New Street or Middleway Retail Park, tend to collect a familiar set of defects: scuffed tyres and disturbed wheel fixings from tight turns, damaged mirrors, lamps knocked out against a bay or a bollard, and curtains or load security fittings caught during loading. None of it is dramatic, and any of it can fail an inspection or draw attention at a roadside check. Regular PMIs catch it while it is still a quick fix.
Getting ready for the annual test
Sending a vehicle to the test to discover what is wrong with it costs a retest and a lost day. Preparation means we go over the vehicle with a tester's eye beforehand, put right the items that commonly cause failures and send it off ready to pass. If one has already failed, we work through the failure list, repair it for the retest and look at why the earlier inspection let it through.
Keeping the calendar honest
Intervals only protect your licence if they are kept. We can plan each vehicle's inspections at the frequency on your licence and, where a service is due nearby, combine the two into one visit at our workshop at Calke Mill Farm in Melbourne. Planned work runs Monday to Friday, 07:30 to 17:00.
Booking
Ring 01332 916028 with the registration and the date the inspection or test is due. Coaches and minibuses from the town's bus and coach operators are inspected on the same basis as HGVs, trailers and light commercials, with brake performance assessed every time.
