GovWire

About this data set

This data set comes from data held by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

It isnt classed as an official statistic. This means its not subject to scrutiny and assessment by the UK Statistics Authority.

Vehicle enforcement checks at roadside and operators premises

As a commercial driver, you might be asked to stop by the police or a DVSA officer. They can stop lorries, buses and coaches.

The police and DVSA have the power to carry out spot checks on your vehicle and issue prohibitions if necessary. A prohibition prevents you from driving until you get a problem with your vehicle fixed.

Police and DVSA officers can also issue fixed penalties if you commit an offence. Some of these are graduated depending on the circumstances and seriousness of the offence.

Light goods vehicles (LGVs) shown in the tables include light goods vehicles, cars, motorcycles, taxis, private hire cars and non-testable vehicles (eg mobile cranes, diggers and non-HGV trailers). The figures exclude vehicles that were sifted.

This data table is updated every 3 months.

Severity of defects and offences

The offence band relates to the severity of the offence, with band 1 containing the least serious offences and band 5 containing the most serious. The categories are:

• category 1 - an immediate prohibition including an immediate brake, steering or tyre defect
• category 2 - an immediate prohibition not falling within category 1
• category 3 - a delayed prohibition including a brake, steering or tyre defect
• category 4 - a delayed prohibition not falling within category 3

This data table is updated every 3 months.

Impounding

This figure will be reported annually due to the low number of vehicles impounded. These are the actual number for which the appeal period has passed and any challenge has been dismissed.

This data table is no longer updated from 2019 onwards.

Maintenance assessments and outcomes

The number of assessments reported here is less than the number actually carried out. This is because multi-site assessments are treated as a single assessment in this table.

The figures include both targeted and non-targeted assessments.

This data table is updated every 3 months.

Most common offences for prosecution

There are a small number of other offences included in the overall figures, which arent reported separately in these tables.

These data tables are updated every 3 months.