UK Law and Practice Contributed by: James Backhouse, Jonathon Backhouse, Andrew Woolfall and Mark Davies, Backhouse Jones
2.2 Regulatory Authorities The operator licensing regime is regulated by eight Traffic Commissioners across Great Britain, with licences administered from a central office in Leeds. Northern Ireland is slightly different and has a Presid - ing Officer who carries out a similar but not identical function. 2.3 Recent or Pending Reforms The Bus Services Act 2025 has brought further signifi - cant change to the powers of local authorities to run their own bus companies. Furthermore, franchising in the bus sector has undergone huge growth within the last two years. The implementation of the Public Ser - vice Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) and the Public Service Vehicles Accessible Informa - tion Regulations 2023 (PSVAIR) will have a significant financial impact on operators despite government funding schemes to help towards PSVAIR. In the haul - age sector, the introduction of domestic Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) models with greater flexibility is assisting operators and drivers to fulfil their obligations. To operate road services for freight transportation, organisations are required to hold an operator licence authorised by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. In order to obtain this, they have to agree to undertak - ings and accept conditions which specify the manner in which they must conduct their operation. 3.2 Qualification Requirements Financial Requirements Transport operators are required to satisfy the statu - tory financial standing requirement. This can be dem - onstrated in one of two ways: • for companies with audited accounts, by meeting the required level of capital and reserves shown in the balance sheet; or • by maintaining the required amount of readily avail - able funds, held on average over the three months immediately preceding the date of assessment, as evidenced by bank statements. 3. Licensing and Market Entry 3.1 Operating Authorisations
While there are some variations and exceptions depending on the circumstances, demonstrating the required level of financial standing is a mandatory requirement for holding an operator licence. Technical Qualifications Operators are required to employ an individual who has the Transport Manager CPC qualification, which aligns with the European syllabus. 3.3 Cabotage and Cross-Border Operations Cabotage rules are enforced, and the circumstances in which operators may undertake cabotage opera - tions are limited. This applies both to UK operators carrying out cabotage within Europe and to European operators carrying out cabotage operations within the UK. 3.4 Duration, Transfer and Revocation Operator Licences Once granted, operator licences are valid for five years and must be reviewed every five years in order to continue operating. Critically, they are not transfer - able as part of an M&A transaction. This requires care - ful management to ensure that companies do not find themselves without a licence post-transaction and is a common error made by many large firms that do not understand the operator licensing regime. Licence Suspension or Revocation There are a wide range of circumstances in which licences may be suspended or revoked. However, in essence, failure to comply with the undertakings, conditions or foundation of the licence are the core reasons.
4. Infrastructure Ownership and Access 4.1 Ownership Models
National Highways in England (or its equivalent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) or the local authorities maintain the road infrastructure in the UK, depending on the nature of the road.
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