Traffic areas for operator licences

Great Britain is split into eight traffic areas for operator licensing. Each area has a traffic commissioner responsible for it. Your traffic area depends on where your operating centre is, not where your head office is. You need a separate licence for each area where you have an operating centre, and the area shows in your licence number.

This guide covers Great Britain. Northern Ireland licenses operators separately.

How many traffic areas are there?

There are eight. GOV.UK says "There are 8 traffic areas in Great Britain with a traffic commissioner responsible for each area" (Being a goods vehicle operator). The detailed guide adds that a traffic commissioner is "deployed by the Senior Traffic Commissioner to be responsible for a specific traffic area" (GOV.UK goods licensing guide). Goods (HGV) and PSV (bus and coach) licences use the same eight areas.

The official names come from Annex 2 of that guide. HaulierScope groups licences into eight area hubs that follow the eight regional files DVSA publishes, so our hub names are the everyday region names. The table maps one to the other.

Which traffic area am I in?

Find the county or district of your operating centre in the table below. The list comes from Annex 2 of the GOV.UK guide, which says it "acts as a guide only". When you apply, "the correct traffic area will be automatically allocated", and the Office of the Traffic Commissioner can advise if you are unsure.

Office towns are from the GOV.UK traffic commissioners access and opening page. The same page says "All licence applications are processed in Leeds", so you apply online and the central team handles the paperwork whatever your area.

Each area hub page, such as East of England, has an interactive map of Great Britain with the eight areas marked.

Boundaries that surprise people

The areas do not always match everyday regions:

• Nottinghamshire is in North Eastern, not the Midlands.
• Derbyshire is in North Western.
• Leicestershire is in Eastern.
• Berkshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire are in Western, not the South East. A depot in Reading or Southampton is a Western licence.
• North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire are in North Eastern, while the rest of Lincolnshire is in Eastern.

Do I need a licence for each traffic area?

Yes, if you have an operating centre in more than one area. GOV.UK says "You'll need to hold a goods vehicle operator's licence for each traffic area where you have an operating centre". The law also works the other way: a person "shall not at any time hold more than one such licence in respect of the same area" (Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, s.8). So one company has at most one goods licence per area, and that licence can list several operating centres inside the area.

If you move your operating centre to a different area, you cannot just change the address. The GOV.UK guide says you "will need to apply for a new licence in that traffic area". Read our operating centre rules for what makes a site suitable.

Worked example (our own illustration)

A haulier has yards in Doncaster, Derby and Leicester. Using the Annex 2 list:

Three yards in three areas means three goods licences, each with its own number, vehicle authority and continuation date. When you vet a national haulier, check the licence for the depot that will run your work. Our guide on how to check a haulier explains what to read on each one.

The traffic area letter in a licence number

The second letter of a licence number shows the area. An OF number is a goods licence from Eastern; a PK number is a PSV licence from South Eastern and Metropolitan. GOV.UK does not publish this letter key. It is our reading of the official DVSA data, in which each regional file holds one goods prefix and one PSV prefix (data.gov.uk dataset). The full prefix table, with goods and PSV counts per prefix, is in our operator licence number guide.

Licences in each traffic area

These are the counts in the DVSA operator licence data, file dated 7 September 2026. Each row links to its area hub.

The largest area is Eastern with 13,143 licences. The smallest is Welsh with 4,744. Across Great Britain there are 69,122 licences: 64,036 goods and 5,086 PSV. Our figures update when DVSA publishes a new file.

Where traffic commissioner hearings are held

Public inquiries are "usually held in person, similar to a court or other tribunal", and some are held remotely (GOV.UK guide to hearings). The letter calling an operator to an inquiry says whether the hearing is in person or virtual.

Each weekly Applications and Decisions bulletin lists upcoming inquiries with the venue. The bulletins published in late September 2026 listed hearing rooms at the traffic commissioner offices in Leeds, Cambridge, Birmingham, Bristol, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Pontypridd and Golborne (Warrington). A few cases were listed at other places, such as council offices in Caernarfon, or by video. A case is not always heard in its own area: the East of England bulletin No. 5607 of 30 September 2026 listed an Eastern (OF) licence for a hearing in Eastbourne.

To follow inquiries for every area in one place, see our public inquiries page and our guide to the traffic commissioner public inquiry. For the weekly bulletins themselves, read Applications and Decisions explained.

Watch the hauliers in your area

You can run a free operator licence check on any haulier and see its traffic area, operating centres and status. If you rely on several hauliers across different areas, HaulierScope monitoring puts them on one watchlist and sends weekly change alerts when DVSA publishes a new file.

Frequently asked questions

Which traffic area am I in?

Your traffic area is set by where your operating centre is, not your registered office. Use Annex 2 of the GOV.UK goods vehicle operator licensing guide, which lists the counties and districts in each of the eight areas. It "acts as a guide only": when you apply online, the correct area is allocated automatically. Watch the odd boundaries, such as Nottinghamshire in North Eastern and Berkshire in Western.

How many traffic areas are there in Great Britain?

There are eight: North Eastern, North Western, West Midland, Eastern, Welsh, Western, South Eastern and Metropolitan, and Scottish. GOV.UK says each has a traffic commissioner responsible for it. Goods and PSV licences use the same eight areas. Northern Ireland is not part of the scheme and licenses its operators separately.

Can one company hold two licences in the same traffic area?

No. Section 8 of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 says a person may hold separate goods licences for different areas but not more than one for the same area. A company with several depots in one area lists them all as operating centres on one licence. It needs a second licence only when it opens an operating centre in another area.

Where is the traffic area office?

GOV.UK lists an Office of the Traffic Commissioner for each area: Leeds (North Eastern), Golborne near Warrington (North Western), Birmingham (West Midland), Cambridge (Eastern), Pontypridd (Wales), Bristol (Western), Eastbourne (South Eastern and Metropolitan) and Edinburgh (Scotland). All licence applications are processed centrally in Leeds, and most correspondence now goes through the online Vehicle Operator Licensing service.