---
title: "Good repute"
canonical_url: https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary/good-repute
markdown_url: https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary/good-repute.md
publisher: HaulierScope
licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/)
---

# Good repute

> A requirement for standard goods and PSV licences, restricted PSV licences and transport managers. It asks whether the traffic commissioner can trust the…

Glossary

Last updated 2 October 2026

A requirement for standard goods and PSV licences, restricted PSV licences and transport managers. It asks whether the traffic commissioner can trust the operator to run its transport business safely and legally.

## Official wording

The Senior Traffic Commissioner defines good repute as "being trustworthy, honest, and responsible" ([Statutory Document Summaries](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-traffic-commissioner-statutory-document-summaries)). GOV.UK says it "includes relevant convictions and fixed penalty notices that the operator or any of their employees have had in the last five years" ([goods vehicle operator licensing guide](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/goods-vehicle-operator-licensing-guide)).

Commissioners weigh convictions, repeated prohibition notices, patterns of dishonesty, use of an unauthorised operating centre and Most Serious Infringements. The summary lists fronting ("use of another person's licence") and phoenix arrangements among the things likely to cost an operator its repute.

## How it shows up on a record

No register field says "good repute". You see it in outcomes. The summary states: "Loss of good repute is likely to result in revocation of a standard licence." Findings on repute appear in public inquiry results in Applications and Decisions and in written [traffic commissioner decisions](https://haulierscope.co.uk/tc-decisions). In the DVSA operator licence data, file dated 7 September 2026, 522 licences were curtailed and 17 were suspended.

## A common misunderstanding

Restricted goods licences have no good repute test, but they are not free of conduct checks. Fitness, "the ability to run a transport business properly", applies to all licence types. Repute is also not a one-off check at application. The summary calls it "a mandatory and ongoing requirement".

## What a buyer or operator should do

Operators must tell the traffic commissioner about convictions within 28 days. Buyers should look at a haulier's public inquiry history on our [public inquiries](https://haulierscope.co.uk/public-inquiries) page and [run a free operator licence check](https://haulierscope.co.uk/) for current status. See also [professional competence](https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary/professional-competence) and our guide to [curtailed, suspended and revoked licences](https://haulierscope.co.uk/guides/curtailed-suspended-revoked).

## Related terms

- [Professional competence](https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary/professional-competence)
- [Effective and stable establishment](https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary#effective-and-stable-establishment)
- [Revocation](https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary#revocation)
- [Disqualification](https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary#disqualification)

## Sources

- [Senior Traffic Commissioner Statutory Document Summaries (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-traffic-commissioner-statutory-document-summaries) (source last updated 21 April 2026)
- [Goods vehicle operator licensing guide (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/goods-vehicle-operator-licensing-guide) (source last updated 2 October 2025)

Checked against GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk on 2 October 2026. Register figures: DVSA operator licence data, file dated 7 September 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Back to the [glossary](https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary#good-repute) or read our [editorial standards](https://haulierscope.co.uk/editorial-standards).

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Canonical page: https://haulierscope.co.uk/glossary/good-repute

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

HaulierScope is an independent service, not affiliated with DVSA or the Traffic Commissioners. It is updated when DVSA publishes a new file, usually weekly.