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What examiners mark goods operators down for. Caught as the records come in.
Every row below is something a DVSA examiner could raise at a maintenance investigation into a goods vehicle operator, set against the question it falls under on the HGV report and what HGVault does about it.
DVSA publishes the questions its examiners work through at a maintenance investigation. The goods vehicle form runs to fourteen sections, from the legal entity and the operating centre, through inspection records, driver defect reporting and wheels and tyres, to load security and the transport manager. Most answers get one of four codes: satisfactory, mostly satisfactory, unsatisfactory or report to the traffic commissioner. The questions are public, so you can put them to your own records any time you like.
HGVault does that in two ways. During the day it catches problems at the moment they are recorded: on the driver’s walkaround, on the PMI sheet before the fitter signs it, and on the fleet board. Then the maintenance investigation self-check runs the whole HGV question set against your records and suggests an answer for each question, with its reasons. The office confirms or changes each answer and signs the self-check off. It is designed to be run every quarter.
One section only appears on the goods vehicle form. Section 9 asks whether load security arrangements are suitable and whether drivers and other staff are trained in them. Those two questions are answered by the office, and the self-check asks what evidence you hold, such as risk assessments, loading plans, restraint checks and training records. HGVault doesn’t try to judge load security from the maintenance records.
The tables follow the way the work divides between the office, the drivers and the workshop. The numbers are the HGV report’s question numbers. A check that feeds more than one question has no number against it.
Where the questions come from
The question set is DVSA’s, published on GOV.UK, and HGVault names the edition it follows, version L5.6 of May 2023. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
See it on a sample fleet
Look round Severn Vale Haulage, a made-up haulier, with a guided tour of the parts that matter to you. Read only.
In HGVault
The checks, question by question.
Grouped by where the work happens. A check that feeds more than one question has no number against it.
Records and planning
Office and workshop
Question
What would be flagged
What HGVault does
4c 4e
PMIs done late, with no VOR record to explain the gap
The fleet board shows what is due and overdue. A late inspection with no VOR record across the gap is flagged before the sheet is signed, and a vehicle coming back on the road is checked for inspections it missed while it was off.
4d
A forward planner that stops a few weeks out
Every lorry and trailer has its own inspection interval. HGVault checks the plan runs the six months ahead the guidance asks for, and can send the dates to Outlook or Google Calendar.
4b
Sheets that are not fully completed
Before signing, the sheet is checked for a missing brake test, no name against the brake test, an unladen test with no reason given, or tyre pressures not taken before inflating.
Annual test, tacho calibration or tail lift LOLER run out
Certificates sit on each vehicle, and annual test, tachograph calibration, vehicle tax and LOLER dates come up on the fleet board in good time.
4b
Records that could have been altered afterwards
Every compliance change goes in the audit trail. Nothing is deleted: a mistake is voided with a reason and a name, and the original stays on file.
4f
Manufacturer recalls nobody followed up
Recall checks have their own due dates on each vehicle, and an outstanding recall shows red on the vehicle, the dashboard and the reminder email.
More lorries or trailers in use than the licence allows
Lorries are counted against the vehicles your goods licence authorises and trailers against the trailers, off-road ones included, with a disc register and the VOL list compared both ways.
A new lorry never specified on the licence
A lorry missing from your VOL list a month after it joined the fleet goes red. Inside that month, it shows the date it is due by.
Drivers and walkarounds
Driver’s phone and gate checks
Question
What would be flagged
What HGVault does
5a
Defects drivers should have reported
When a PMI, a gate check, a roadside check or the office finds a defect a driver ought to spot, HGVault goes back through the walkarounds since the item was last known good and records each driver who passed it.
5a
A wall of nil-defect reports
The self-check sets what drivers report against what inspections find, so a habit of ticking everything OK is out in the open.
5a
Checks done too fast to be real
The server times each check from the moment it opens. Short ones are flagged, and each driver’s typical check time is on their record.
5a
Items ticked that the vehicle doesn’t have
A coupling ticked OK on a rigid says the driver isn’t looking. Items a vehicle doesn’t have can be set as not fitted, and a supervisor’s gate check records the disagreement against the driver.
5c
Driver defects with no record of the repair
Each defect lands in the workshop as a job and carries its status through to rectification and sign-off before the vehicle goes out again.
Drivers never told about a known problem
Directed checks put worn tyres, open defects and recent gate check finds in front of the driver and want an answer on each one.
Inspections, wheels and tyres
Workshop tablet
Question
What would be flagged
What HGVault does
4b
No brake performance on the sheet
Brake figures with pass and fail guidance based on DVSA’s published brake efficiency requirements, or the roller tester printout attached. An unladen test gets a prompt for a laden one, or a written reason why not.
4b
The same fault, inspection after inspection
An item faulted on consecutive inspections is flagged as a repeat, so someone looks at why it keeps coming back.
8
Steer tyres over ten years old
DOT date codes are recorded and checked against the ten-year rule for front steered axles, the second steer axle on a twin-steer included.
8
A wheel off with no re-torque booked
Flagged before signing. The torque record has a wheel diagram, the figures and the re-torque check, signed in stages and timed by your own policy.
8
Tyres with no history
A tyre register by wheel position on every unit, rigid and trailer, with tread readings over time and a warning level you choose.
8
A tyre found badly under-inflated
Pressures are recorded as found and as set against each axle’s recommended pressure. One found 20% or more under is flagged to be checked inside, and stays red until it is.
Trailer items missed or made up
Trailer inspections use the trailer items from DVSA’s HGV inspection manual and leave out the ones the manual says don’t apply to trailers.
Prohibitions, annual tests and OCRS
Office
Question
What would be flagged
What HGVault does
10
Prohibitions with no investigation behind them
Each PG9 gets an investigation linking the notice, the repair, the last full PMI, the clearance and that day’s walkaround, with the gaps in the evidence listed and the follow-up actions tracked.
10
S marks building up
The self-check pulls in every prohibition and S mark from the sample period, so the pattern is in front of you.
6c
An annual test record that points to poor maintenance
A failed annual test, or a pass after rectification, gets its own investigation linking the pre-test inspection, the last three PMIs, the repair and the retest. With DVSA’s MOT history switched on, results arrive by themselves and a failure opens a workshop job.
An OCRS creeping up between DVSA reports
A running score from the encounters you enter off the PG35EC, annual test results and DVSA’s own reports, shown beside DVSA’s last figure with a forecast.
Question numbers follow the HGV form of DVSA’s maintenance investigation report. HGVault works from DVSA’s published guidance, including the Guide to maintaining roadworthiness. DVSA has not approved or endorsed it.
Each part in more detail.
The feature pages show how each check works and where it feeds the self-check.
Compliance
DVSA’s maintenance investigation questions in the HGV form, answered from your own records with suggested codes, actions and owners.
See the feature
Compliance
Roadside encounters entered off the PG35EC on the day, and a running score between DVSA’s reports with a forecast of where it is heading.
See the feature
Compliance
A file for every PG9 and failed annual test, built from the walkarounds, PMIs and jobs already on record.
See the feature
Workshop
PMIs on a tablet from DVSA’s HGV inspection manual, with laden brake tests and a check of the sheet before anyone signs it.
See the feature
Workshop
Each trailer with its own tag, check list, inspections and annual test, counted against the trailers your licence authorises.
See the feature
Workshop
Every tyre by wheel position, a recommended pressure for each axle, the ten-year steer rule and re-torques signed in stages.
See the feature
Drivers
QR tag checks on the driver’s own phone for units, rigids, trailers and vans, opening with what is already known about that vehicle.
See the feature
Drivers
Categories from C1 to CE, gross weight against C1, Driver CPC hours, D4 and tacho card dates, and licence checks by GOV.UK check code.
See the feature
Office and costs
The fleet board, forward planner, VOR, licence discs and the VOL list, with every annual test, tacho and LOLER date in one place.
See the feature
Office and costs
Parts, suppliers, stock, fuel card statements and whole-life cost per 1,000 miles for every lorry, trailer and van.
See the feature
Questions
Where do the question numbers come from?
From DVSA’s maintenance investigation report in its HGV form, the same numbers the examiner writes against each finding.
Does HGVault answer the questions for us?
It suggests an answer for each question, with the reason and the records behind it. The office confirms or changes every answer, writes its own assessment and signs the self-check.
How is load security handled?
Section 9 is only on the goods vehicle form, and the office answers it. The self-check asks for your evidence, such as risk assessments, loading plans, restraint checks and training records, and keeps it with the answers.
Does a clean self-check mean we would pass a maintenance investigation?
No. The examiner makes their own assessment, and DVSA has not approved or endorsed HGVault. A clean self-check means your own records answer the same questions well, which is where you want to be if an examiner turns up.
What happens when DVSA changes the questions?
HGVault keeps a register of the DVSA documents it follows and the edition used. A weekly check of GOV.UK flags when DVSA updates one, so it can be brought up to date.
See it on a working sample fleet.
Severn Vale Haulage is a made-up haulier with tractor units, rigids, a van and four trailers, and months of records behind them. Look round it yourself, read only, with nothing to install. A guided tour takes you through each part.