The DVSA has revealed a major enforcement initiative aimed at ensuring popular vehicles follow crucial safety rules while on UK roads.
The operation has a particular focus on the construction and car transport sectors, where safety violations have surged over the past year.
The DVSA has outlined plans to intensify roadside checks over the coming 12 months, concentrating resources on industries showing the highest risk profiles.
The strategy marks a significant shift in DVSA's approach to commercial vehicle safety, recognising that operators of vans and smaller goods vehicles often lack the robust safety frameworks required of HGV licence holders.
GETTY
|Vans could be required to have the same licence as HGVs under the DVSA proposals
Construction vehicles and those transporting cars will face new enforcement after alarming data found that light goods vehicles were involved in 3,000 incidents resulting in death or serious injury during 2023-24.
These figures were triple the amount recorded for HGVs, which were found to have fewer than 1,000 such incidents on UK roads.
The enforcement statistics have now painted a troubling picture, with more than half of all LGV inspections uncovering violations serious enough to warrant immediate action.
Officers regularly discover severe mechanical defects, dangerously unsecured loads and vehicles carrying weights far exceeding legal limits.
GETTY
|Vans were found to be involved in more road collisions than HGVs
The annual MOT failure rate for light goods vehicles runs approximately four times higher than for HGVs, significantly exceeding passenger car failure rates as well.
DVSA examines approximately 20,000 light goods vehicles annually through targeted roadside inspections, with enforcement teams now adopting a more strategic approach to maximise impact across the vehicle sector.
With roughly 10 times more LGVs than HGVs operating on British roads, the agency acknowledges the need for precise targeting to influence operator behaviour effectively.
The enforcement strategy involves close collaboration with trade associations to ensure regulations and guidance remain clear, while maintaining robust action against non-compliant operators through fines, sanctions and additional penalties.
The agency said it recognises the diverse range of LGV users across multiple industries and will begin carefully evaluating where enforcement efforts should be placed to help improve road safety.
Geographic targeting and sector-specific operations will form key elements of the new approach, with enforcement teams concentrating on areas and industries which have shown the least amount of compliance.
Industry voices have responded strongly to the announcement, with multiple operators and transport professionals advocating for LGVs to fall under operator licensing regulations.
Comments on the DVSA blog revealed widespread support for introducing tachograph requirements to monitor driving hours, with concerns that some van drivers work 16-hour days across a six or seven-day workweek.
GETTY |
The DVSA said it would look at introducing new driving licence requirements for LGVs
Several respondents highlighted the disparity between HGV operators, who must maintain £8,000 in financial reserves and employ qualified transport managers, and LGV operators who face no such requirements.
The European Union has already implemented operator licensing for vans exceeding 2.5 tonnes, with tachograph requirements beginning in 2026.
Transport professionals argued that bringing LGVs under licensing rules would create a level playing field while improving road safety standards across the commercial vehicle sector.
Mark Horton, an enforcement policy manager at DVSA, shared: "As with any strategy, we start with engaging with the industries - such as trade associations - to make sure the rules and guidance are clear.
"However, enforcement must sit alongside this and we take that role seriously - taking robust action where appropriate, including issuing fines, sanctions and further penalties."