DVSA roadside checks and prohibitions: PG9, S-marked, delayed, OCRS and clearing a prohibition

Two things can turn an ordinary breakdown into a compliance event: the vehicle is found with a defect at a DVSA roadside check, or the breakdown itself reveals a defect that should have been picked up by maintenance. Both end in the same document, a prohibition notice, and the same questions: what can the vehicle do now, how do we get it cleared, and what does it mean for the operator licence.

What happens at a DVSA roadside check?

DVSA enforcement examiners, often working with the police at check sites or in mobile patrols, can stop any goods vehicle. They check the driver's hours and tachograph records, the vehicle's roadworthiness against the Categorisation of Vehicle Defects, the load and its security, the operator licence disc and the driver's entitlement. Vehicles from operators with a poor Operator Compliance Risk Score are more likely to be selected; Earned Recognition operators are less likely.

The examiner records the outcome as clear, advisory, a prohibition or an offence. Prohibitions are recorded against the vehicle and the operator and appear in the operator's compliance history.

What is a PG9 prohibition?

A prohibition notice, form PG9, prohibits the use of the vehicle or trailer on a road because of its condition. There are two kinds.

An immediate prohibition takes effect the moment it is issued. The vehicle must not be driven except under the specific conditions the examiner writes on the notice, which may allow it to be moved a short distance to a place of safety or to a workshop, usually at low speed or by recovery. It is issued for defects that make the vehicle dangerous or that show a serious risk, for example a tyre with exposed cords, a brake defect, a steering fault, insecure load or an air leak affecting braking.

A delayed prohibition gives the operator up to ten days to rectify the defect before it takes effect, and is used for defects that are serious but do not require the vehicle to be stopped on the spot.

The Categorisation of Vehicle Defects, republished by DVSA in December 2024, is the manual examiners use to decide which category a defect falls into. It is public, and a competent workshop or mobile mechanic will know it.

What does an S-marked prohibition mean?

When the examiner concludes that the defect should have been identified and rectified by the operator's maintenance system, because it was obvious, long-standing or would have been found at the last inspection or walkaround, the prohibition is marked with an S for significant maintenance failure. An S-marked prohibition scores more heavily in OCRS, is reported to the Traffic Commissioner's office, and is one of the strongest indicators of a failing maintenance system. A ten-year-old tyre on a steer axle, a brake lining worn through the wear indicator or a long-standing air leak are typical S-mark candidates.

What other roadside outcomes are there?

• Advisory notices record a minor defect without prohibiting the vehicle.
• Fixed penalties for drivers' hours, tachograph, overloading and some construction and use offences, with graduated amounts depending on seriousness; non-UK drivers may be required to pay a deposit at the roadside.
• Immobilisation where a driver cannot pay a deposit or a prohibited vehicle would otherwise be driven.
• Overloading prohibitions until the excess is removed or redistributed.
• Court prosecution for the most serious offences.

How does a breakdown become a prohibition?

Recovery operators and police frequently call DVSA to a breakdown scene, and a breakdown that reveals a defect is not exempt from enforcement. Examples that regularly result in prohibitions: a tyre blowout on a tyre that was already below the legal tread limit or over ten years old on a steer axle; a brake fire caused by a binding brake that a walkaround would have flagged; a trailer with a non-functioning ABS or lighting; a load that shifted because it was not secured. In each case the breakdown is the symptom and the prohibition is the diagnosis.

How do I get a prohibited vehicle repaired and moving?

Follow this sequence and tell the provider you call exactly what the notice says.

1. Read the conditions on the PG9. They state whether the vehicle may be moved, how far, at what speed and by what means. Do not exceed them; driving in breach of a prohibition is an offence and the vehicle can be immobilised.
2. Arrange a competent repair. For tyres, lighting, some air-system and brake-adjustment faults a mobile provider can attend the scene. For brakes, steering, structural and driveline defects the vehicle normally has to be recovered to a workshop under the conditions on the notice. HGV247 lists mobile mechanics, tyre fitters and recovery operators with their published capabilities so the controller can find one close to the vehicle.
3. Arrange clearance. An immediate prohibition can only be removed once a DVSA examiner has inspected the repaired vehicle, either at the scene if an examiner is still present, or by presenting the vehicle at a DVSA site or an authorised testing facility by appointment. DVSA charges a fee for the inspection. A delayed prohibition is cleared the same way before the deadline. The removal is recorded on a PG10 notice.
4. Record everything. The repair, the parts, who did it, the clearance and the reason the defect arose all belong in the maintenance file, because the Traffic Commissioner may ask for them.

What does a prohibition do to OCRS and the operator licence?

The Operator Compliance Risk Score has a roadworthiness element and a traffic element, each banded red, amber or green. Prohibitions, advisories, fixed penalties and convictions add points that decay over three years; S-marked prohibitions and repeated failures push the score into red, which means more roadside stops. A pattern of prohibitions can trigger a DVSA maintenance investigation and a call to a Traffic Commissioner public inquiry, where the operator's repute and the licence itself are at stake. Earned Recognition operators, who share maintenance and tachograph data with DVSA, are exempt from most routine stops but lose the status if their systems fail.

Reducing prohibition risk

Daily walkaround checks that are actually done, inspection intervals that are actually met, brake performance testing at every safety inspection, tyre age and tread management, load-securing training, and a defect close-out process that records the release decision. A prohibition rarely arrives without warning; it usually has a paper trail behind it.

HGV247 is a directory and request service. It helps you find and contact independent providers who can repair a prohibited vehicle; it does not clear prohibitions and is not a substitute for DVSA guidance or legal advice.