DVSA file 7 Sep 2026 · 69,122 licences
Operator licence check Is this haulier licensed?
Check any goods vehicle or bus and coach operator licence in Great Britain. See its status, type, vehicles authorised and operating centres, from the DVSA file and the date we read it.
Every licence carries a disc
Operators show a licence disc in each vehicle’s windscreen. Its type tells you what the vehicle may carry, and for whom. Counts are licences in the current DVSA file.
Standard International
Carries goods for other people, for payment, in Great Britain and abroad.
9,726 goods1,691 PSV
Standard National
Carries goods for other people, for payment, within Great Britain. Own goods only when abroad.
23,553 goods2,187 PSV
Restricted
Carries the holder's own goods in connection with its own business. Not for hire or reward.
30,757 goods1,208 PSV
DVSA file 7 Sep 2026
What changed in the latest DVSA file
Our record starts with the DVSA file dated 7 September 2026.
Each new weekly file is compared with the one before it, field by field. From the next file, this space lists every status change, licence added or no longer listed, and change to vehicles, trailers and operating centres.
Monitoring · opening soon
Know when a haulier you use changes
A licence can be curtailed, suspended or drop out of the file between two loads. Monitoring watches your list for you and tells you what changed.
Add your hauliers
Paste a list of licence numbers or company names, or upload a spreadsheet. We match each one to its licence.
We read each new DVSA file
When DVSA publishes a new file, we compare every licence on your list with the previous file, field by field.
You get one email per file
Status, type, vehicles, trailers, operating centres: each change with its before and after values.
Keep a dated record
Export what the file said on the day you checked, for your audit trail.
Join the monitoring waitlist
Tell us roughly how many hauliers you check. It helps us set the plans.
Licences by traffic area
Great Britain has eight traffic areas, each with its own Traffic Commissioner. The second letter of a licence number shows the area that issued it.
- East of England13,143 licences
- London and the South East of England7,929 licences
- North East of England10,324 licences
- North West of England9,396 licences
- Scotland5,643 licences
- Wales4,744 licences
- West Midlands8,088 licences
- West of England9,855 licences
Beyond the licence file
We set the DVSA file beside the Companies House register and DVSA’s earned recognition list, and date every fact.
Reports
- Upcoming public inquiriesTraffic Commissioner public inquiries listed for companies, by traffic area.
- Haulier insolvency watchLicences held by companies in liquidation or administration.
- Companies House filing watchHauliers whose accounts are overdue at Companies House.
- Continuation dates by monthWhich operator licences are due for continuation, and when.
- DVSA earned recognition listOperators in DVSA's earned recognition scheme, by traffic area.
- Data statusHow old each source is and when we last checked it.
- Applications and Decisions by areaThe latest weekly bulletin in each traffic area: new applications, objection deadlines, grants and refusals.
- New operator licences grantedEvery new goods and PSV licence granted, month by month, with the companies named.
- Licences revoked, surrendered or terminatedLicences the Traffic Commissioners list each month as revoked, surrendered or terminated, in their own wording.
- Traffic Commissioner decisionsRevocations, refusals, warnings and curtailments decided by the Traffic Commissioners, by outcome and area.
- State of the register 2026The GB operator licence register in numbers: fleets, holders, and licences granted and ended in 2026.
Rankings
- Biggest haulage companiesThe top 100 UK (Great Britain) hauliers by lorries authorised, with a top 50 for each traffic area.
- Biggest coach and bus operatorsThe top 100 bus and coach operators by vehicles authorised, nationally and by area.
Free tools
- Free operator licence toolsFinancial standing and fee calculators, a newspaper advert generator and a continuation date checker.
- Financial standing calculatorHow much money you must show for a goods or PSV operator licence, at 2026 rates.
- Operator licence fee calculatorEvery fee for a new licence, a variation or continuation, with when each is due.
- O-licence newspaper advert generatorGOV.UK's newspaper advert template for a new licence or a variation, filled in for you.
- Continuation date and fee checkerA licence's continuation date, when the fee is due and the days left.
- Licence status badge and search widgetShow your licence status on your own site, or add a licence search box.
Directories
- Hauliers by countyLicensed haulage companies in every county of England and council area of Scotland and Wales.
- Coach and bus operators by countyCheck a coach or bus company's PSV licence before you book, county by county and town by town.
Learn
- Operator licence glossaryPlain-English definitions of operator licence terms, each checked against GOV.UK.
- For freight forwardersCheck and monitor the hauliers you subcontract to.
- For insurers and brokersLicence facts and change alerts for haulage and coach underwriting.
- For transport managersTrack your own licences, continuation dates and area notices.
- For main contractorsPre-qualify and monitor the hauliers and plant firms on your sites.
Questions about operator licence checks
How do I check if a haulier has an operator licence?
Search the haulier's company name, licence number or company number above. The result shows whether a licence is in the latest DVSA file, its type (restricted, standard national or standard international), its status (valid, curtailed or suspended) and how many vehicles it authorises. Check that the name matches the company you are booking: a restricted licence does not allow carrying other people's goods for payment.
Is this the official operator licence register?
No. HaulierScope is independent and is not part of DVSA or the traffic commissioners. We republish the operator licence records that DVSA releases as open data under the Open Government Licence, and we keep every weekly file so you can see what changed. The government's own search is the GOV.UK service "Find lorry or bus operators".
How up to date is the licence data?
We update the site when DVSA publishes a new set of files. Every licence page shows the date of the DVSA file it comes from. A licence can change between files, so for a high-value job check again close to the booking date, or use monitoring to get an email when a licence you rely on changes.
What do valid, curtailed and suspended mean?
Valid means the licence is in force. Curtailed means a traffic commissioner has reduced what the licence allows, for example fewer vehicles or an operating centre removed, either for the rest of the licence or for a shorter period. Suspended means the licence cannot be used for a period. Revoked licences end, so they drop out of the DVSA file; we show them as not in the file dated that week.
Why can't I find an operator?
Try the licence number or the exact registered company name from Companies House, as trading names often differ. The DVSA file covers Great Britain only, so Northern Ireland operators are not included, and special restricted (taxi) PSV licences are not in the file. A licence that has been revoked, surrendered or ended is removed from the file.
What do the letters in an operator licence number mean?
GB licence numbers are two letters and seven digits, such as OB1234567. The first letter is O for a goods vehicle licence or P for a PSV licence. The second letter matches the traffic area: B North East, C North West, D West Midlands, F East of England, G Wales, H West of England, K London and the South East, M Scotland. This is the pattern in every licence in the DVSA file.
Where the data comes from. DVSA publishes the operator licence file as open data. We read each file and keep a dated copy. Methodology
What we never show. Director, partner and transport manager names, or correspondence addresses. Sole trader and partnership pages stay out of search engines and show town and postcode district only.
Who we are. An independent service, not affiliated with DVSA or the Traffic Commissioners. About us