Driver conduct – it doesn’t stop when the engine does

21 March 2023

As the holder of a vocational driving entitlement’, whether for Large Goods Vehicles (LGVs) or Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCVs), you are signing up to a maintain a certain level of competency and conduct when driving. So far, so obvious, but did you know that as a PCV driver your obligations extend beyond how you behave behind the wheel? The Road Traffic Act 1988, the source of the rules on driver conduct, makes a distinction between the standards expected of drivers depending on whether they are operating LGVs or PCVs.

The definition of ‘conduct’ in the Road Traffic Act 1988 for LGVs relates to a driver’s conduct ‘as a driver of a motor vehicle’. However, if you are a PCV driver then this is expanded to include not only your conduct as a driver but also ‘in any other respect relevant to his holding a PCV driver’s licence’. The reason for this distinction is the nature of the work done by PCV licence holders – essentially, they are responsible for the people they carry in the vehicle and those people are entitled to place their trust in the driver.

This means that non-driving related offences such as violence, dishonesty or sexual offences could land a PCV driver in a driver conduct hearing in front of the traffic commissioner. For expert guidance on driver conduct hearings and everything relating to your operator’s licence contact Backhouse Jones’ team of expert road transport solicitors by clicking here, call 01254 828 300, or email regulatory@backhouses.co.uk.

You can read the full Traffic Commissioner Guidance on driver conduct here.