The promise behind the licence
Every operator licence comes with a commitment to keep vehicles roadworthy and to inspect them at the stated intervals. For a haulier in Loughborough or Shepshed, that commitment is tested in public whenever a vehicle is stopped at the roadside or goes for its annual test. Missed or poor inspections drag down your OCRS score, and a pattern of them puts the licence itself in question. A PMI is the chance to find the problems before DVSA does.
How we inspect
Our inspections follow the standards DVSA publishes, including the Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness and the HGV inspection manual. Brake performance is assessed every time, and the inspector works through the air system, steering and suspension, tyres and wheel fixings, lamps, reflectors and electrics, the chassis, body and coupling gear, the cab and mirrors, seat belts, and anything leaking. Whatever turns up is recorded, repaired and checked again before we sign the sheet, so the paperwork describes the vehicle that leaves our workshop at Melbourne rather than the one that came in.
Getting ready for the test
A failure costs a retest and a lost day, and leaves a mark on your record. Preparing for the annual test means we go over the vehicle with a tester's eye beforehand, fix the usual culprits, and send it off expecting a pass. If one of your Loughborough vehicles has already failed, we can work through the failure items, put them right for the retest and look at why the regular inspections didn't catch them.
Where the defects come from
Town work leaves its own marks. A vehicle that spends the day in and out of the centre, round the ring road and through tight turns at loading points picks up broken lamps, scuffed bodywork, worn steering joints and tyres with kerb damage. Curtains and load security fittings take knocks too. Those are among the defects that crop up most at inspection, and nearly all of them are quick to fix on a ramp and expensive to discover at a roadside check.
Walkaround checks and the PMI together
A driver's daily check catches what has gone wrong since yesterday; the PMI catches the slow wear that builds over weeks. If the same defect keeps appearing on walkaround sheets, the interval or the maintenance plan may need another look, and we will raise it with you.
Keeping to the calendar
Where a service falls due near the inspection we do both in one visit, so the vehicle comes off the road once. Fleets on a maintenance contract have their inspection dates planned in advance. To book, ring 01332 916028 with the registration and the due date; the workshop takes planned work Monday to Friday, 07:30 to 17:00.
