In recent months, JMW’s Commercial Road Transport team has seen a change in the Traffic Commissioners’ approach to the use of ‘propose to revoke’ (“PTR”) letters.  

A PTR letter is a letter issued by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner (“OTC”) notifying an operator that the Traffic Commissioner is considering revoking their Operator’s Licence because they believe they no longer meet the requirements for holding it. 

PTR letters are most commonly used where there is no transport manager named on the Operator’s Licence (e.g. where a transport manager has resigned and been removed from the Operator’s Licence before a replacement has been appointed) or where there is a change in the operator’s ability to meet the financial standing requirements. 

Now, though, we are seeing an increasing use of PTR letters where DVSA maintenance investigations (MIVRs) traffic investigations (TEVRs) and Desk-Based Assessments (DBAs) find shortcomings in an operator’s compliance systems, and the outcome is marked ‘unsatisfactory’ or ‘report to OTC’.   

Until recently, where any such compliance systems shortcomings were identified, the Traffic Commissioner would typically call the operator to a public inquiry to address the issues and consider whether to take regulatory action - which might include revocation of the Operator’s Licence.   

This is a significant change in the Traffic Commissioners’ approach (as they are proposing to revoke the Operator’s Licence without first calling a public inquiry) that shifts the onus to the operator to request a public inquiry. If you do not request a public inquiry, your Operator’s Licence is likely to be revoked without further notice to you, meaning you would be unable to operate vehicles until you had applied for, and been granted, a new Operator’s Licence.   

It is therefore crucial that you respond to any PTR letter correctly.   

We suggest the following approach:  

• Keep contact details up to date - regularly check that the correspondence addresses (postal and email) recorded on your VOL account are current, are being monitored and that the individuals with responsibility for dealing with any correspondence relating to the Operator’s Licence understand how to do so appropriately. 
• Respond promptly – PTR letters come with strict (and short!) deadlines (typically 7 or 14 days). • Always request a public inquiry – this prevents the Traffic Commissioner revoking your Operator’s Licence without first hearing your case at public inquiry (where they may in fact conclude that no, or lesser, action is appropriate).
• Be pro-active – investigate all compliance issues and shortcomings (no matter how minor) and take remedial action at the earliest opportunity. 
• Be thorough – ensure your response to any MIVR, TEVR or DBA and any shortcomings found during a DVSA investigation is as comprehensive as possible and supported by evidence. 
• Engage specialist legal advice at the outset – in our experience, early specialist legal advice achieves better outcomes and can often avoid further DVSA or Traffic Commissioner intervention.