DVSA advised that as from 31 January 2018 DVSA examiners would no longer stop vehicles of operators taking part in the earned recognition pilot scheme and that site visits would also be less likely – great news for operators who have committed time and effort to this project

Industry is putting so much pressure on operators now to comply with a variety of standards, not without cost, that it is hard to know what to do – FORS, CLOCS and now Earned Recognition! As opposed to FORS, which in my view focusses on documents and procedures, with no evidence of adherence to the same, Earned Recognition focusses on evidence of compliance with operators’ licence Undertakings. As Undertakings are linked to safety on our roads, this must be better for the transport industry, allowing the professional operators to get on with their work and the allowing the DVSA to focus on the serially and seriously non-compliant. It gets a thumbs up from me.

A list of operators taking part in the earned recognition scheme shall be publish on the GOV.UK website in January 2018  DVSA confirmed that this decision has been taken in recognition of participating hauliers’ commitment to meet driver and vehicle standards.