Defect reports are the paper trail that proves your fleet is roadworthy. Here's what DVSA expects, how long to keep records, and why a missing report is the first thing an enforcement officer asks for.
Key Takeaways
- A defect report is the written record of any fault found during a walkaround check, plus what was done about it. It is a legal requirement for commercial fleets under DVSA's Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness.
- Defect reports must be kept for at least 15 months as part of the vehicle's maintenance record, alongside remedial-action notes.
- 'Nil defect' reports are part of the system: confirming no faults were found is as important as logging the ones that were.
- A PG9 prohibition notice issued at the roadside goes against the operator, not the driver personally, and stays in force until a PG10 clearance is issued.
- Missing or incomplete defect records are one of the first things DVSA looks for at an audit and at a roadside stop.
If you run vans or HGVs for a living, "defect report" is not paperwork to be tolerated. It is the single document that says your fleet is roadworthy, and that you can prove it. This post explains what a defect report actually is under UK law, what DVSA expects to see on it, how long to keep records, and why the report is the first thing an enforcement officer asks for.
Most operators who get in trouble with DVSA do not fail because their vans are unsafe. They fail because they cannot show the paper trail that proves their vans are safe.
What a defect report is, in plain terms
A defect report is the written record of a walkaround check: what was inspected, what (if anything) was found, what was done to fix it, and who signed it off. Under DVSA's Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness, every commercial vehicle driver must complete a daily walkaround before first use and report any defect or symptom that could affect safe operation. The report is the evidence.
Two outcomes are valid. Either the driver finds a defect and records it (with a description, date and time, driver name, vehicle reg, and follow-up action), or the driver finds nothing and records a 'nil defect'. Both count. Saying nothing at all does not.
The report then goes to a "responsible person with sufficient authority to ensure that any appropriate action is taken", in the DVSA's words. That usually means a transport manager, fleet owner, or nominated compliance lead.
Why DVSA cares so much about the piece of paper
DVSA treats the defect report as the operator's proof of a working maintenance system. It is not a nice-to-have; it is a condition of holding an operator's licence, and it sits at the heart of the Traffic Commissioner's "fitness and repute" test.
At a roadside inspection, officers ask to see the day's walkaround record. At a maintenance audit, they ask for 15 months of them. At a public inquiry, the missing reports are what the Traffic Commissioner reads out. Operators who cannot produce the records get treated as though the checks never happened.
The enforcement tone shifted further in 2026: from 2 February 2026, DVSA moved PG10 clearance notices (the one that lifts a prohibition) to email delivery. The expectation of a tight digital paper trail on the operator's side is rising to match.
What needs to be on every defect report
DVSA's Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness sets the expectation. A compliant defect report records:
Vehicle. Registration, fleet number if used, mileage at time of check.
Driver. Name and signature. Handwritten on paper, typed or tapped on a digital system. Drivers are legally responsible for the condition of the vehicle they drive, so their signature matters.
Date and time. Start of shift, before first use. Not end-of-day. Not "sometime yesterday".
Items checked. A defined checklist covering the statutory items: lights, indicators, wipers, washers, horn, tyres, brakes, steering, seatbelts, mirrors, reflectors, load security, body, doors, coupling (where relevant), fuel and oil leaks, exhaust, windscreen and wipers, warning lamps.
Defect findings. Each defect described in terms a workshop can act on, with severity noted. Or, explicitly, 'nil defects'.
Remedial action. What was done: taken out of service, booked into workshop, repaired on the spot, referred to manager. With date and signature of the person who signed it off as fixed.
A photo attached to the defect (a picture of the tyre damage, the crack, the leak) transforms the report from a note into evidence. Digital systems do this automatically; paper systems usually cannot.
Retention: 15 months, not 12
Every defect report, plus the remedial action record, must be kept for at least 15 months. This is longer than many operators assume and it exists so DVSA can audit a full year plus a buffer.
The records that need retaining include:
- Driver walkaround check reports (daily).
- Defect reports with description of the fault.
- Repair and maintenance records with signed-off remedial action.
- PMI (preventive maintenance inspection) records, typically at 6 to 13 week intervals depending on the vehicle and operation.
Lose the records and you have, in DVSA's eyes, no system. Paper in a shoebox does not meet the bar if it can't be retrieved on demand. Many operators learn this the hard way at a Traffic Commissioner's public inquiry.
What happens at a roadside stop: the PG9/PG10 system
If DVSA examines your vehicle at the roadside and finds a defect serious enough to act on, they issue a PG9 prohibition notice. The PG9 applies to the vehicle and, importantly, to the operator, not the driver personally.
There are two prohibition levels:
Immediate prohibition. The vehicle cannot move until the defect is fixed and DVSA confirms it. Used where the defect is an immediate safety risk: a tyre below the legal minimum, failed brakes, steering fault, exhaust fumes leaking into the cab.
Delayed prohibition. The vehicle can continue for a limited distance or time, but must be repaired by the deadline on the notice. Used for defects that are serious but not immediately dangerous.
From February 2026, the PG10 clearance notice (confirming the prohibition is lifted after repair) is issued by email. That is faster than the old paper-post cycle but requires you to have a checked, monitored email inbox at the operator end.
PG9s affect your OCRS (Operator Compliance Risk Score). OCRS is how DVSA decides which operators to target for more frequent roadside stops: the more PG9s you rack up, the higher the risk score, the more stops you get.
For the full roadside inspection walkthrough, see DVSA Roadside Inspections: What Officers Check and How to Prepare. For the fines that sit on top of a PG9, the graduated fixed-penalty system runs from £50 to £300 per offence and is capped at £1,500 per roadside stop.
The common defects DVSA finds most often
The defects that most frequently trigger PG9 prohibitions are the basic maintenance items, not exotic mechanical failures:
Tyres. Below 1.6mm tread for most vans, below 1mm for HGVs across the central three-quarters of the tread. Incorrect pressures. Sidewall damage.
Lights and indicators. A single inoperative bulb is enough. Officers check everything including fog lamps, reversing lights and marker lamps.
Brakes. Uneven braking force, warning lights illuminated, handbrake travel.
Load security. Loose, unsecured or overloaded.
Leaks. Oil, fuel, coolant, hydraulics.
These are the lines every walkaround check covers, which is exactly why daily walkarounds catch them before DVSA does.
Paper defect books vs digital defect reporting
Defect reporting started on paper and most small fleets still run it that way. Paper books cost under £10 and a driver can fill one in at the side of the van. The problem is what happens next: the book stays in the van, gets wet, gets lost, never gets seen by the compliance lead, and cannot be retrieved at a moment's notice when DVSA asks.
Digital defect reporting solves the chain-of-custody problem. A phone-based check writes the report, photos and all, to a central record the moment the driver hits submit. The compliance lead sees it immediately; the report is retained automatically for the 15-month window; and the workshop sees the fault description without having to interpret a driver's handwriting.
Autodue's walkaround is built on this model. Drivers tap through a fixed 19-point check for vans or 27-point check for HGVs, matching the standard set DVSA expects. Every defect raised is logged, timestamped, and attached to the vehicle record automatically. No paper, no chasing, no gaps. We covered the trade-offs in detail in Paper vs Digital Walkaround Checks: Why Your Fleet Needs to Go Digital.
The defect report is only as good as the follow-through
A defect report with no remedial action beside it is worse than no report at all: it proves the fault was known and ignored. DVSA will treat that as an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one.
The three minimums on every defect:
Someone owns it. The moment a defect is raised, a named person becomes responsible for getting it fixed. Not a department. Not a "team".
A deadline is set. Immediate (van parked), 24 hours, end of week, next scheduled service. The severity decides the deadline.
The fix is signed off. By name, with date. Workshops give you this automatically on an invoice; in-house fixes need a manual sign-off.
Without those three, the report is a half-finished document.
The bottom line
A defect report is the document that proves your fleet is being maintained. Under UK law it is not optional: daily walkaround reports must be completed, 'nil defects' must be recorded explicitly, and every report must be retained for 15 months. Missing records are the first thing DVSA looks for at an audit or roadside stop, and they are what separate operators who walk away from an inspection from operators who end up in front of a Traffic Commissioner.
The practical next step is to stop treating defect reports as paperwork and start treating them as evidence. Whether you run paper books or a digital system, every check needs a driver signature, a finding (even if nil), a remedial action, and a retrievable record for the next 15 months.
Log every walkaround, every defect, every fix, timestamped and retained for 15 months with Autodue. See walkaround checks | Defect management | iOS | Android
Sources: DVSA Categorisation of Vehicle Defects, December 2024 · DVSA Enforcement Sanctions Policy · DVSA Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness · DVSA Categorisation of Defects (May 2022 revision)