Apply for a vehicle operator licence
Advertising your application
If you’re applying for a goods vehicle operator licence for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), you need to pay to advertise your application in a local newspaper in the traffic area that your organisation operates in.
You do not need to advertise if you are applying for a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) or light goods vehicle operator licence.
If you do not advertise your application correctly, your application will be rejected. You’ll need to pay for a new advert if you apply again.
You must write your advert using the template.
The newspaper you’re advertising in must:
- be local (not regional or national)
- cover the traffic area where the operating centre is based
- include stories as well as adverts - free sheets will not be accepted
- include other public notices, for example planning applications
Your advert must appear between 21 days before to 21 days after you’ve made your application, to give people the chance to comment. For example, if the application is received on 1 June, the advertisement must appear in a newspaper on a day between 11 May and 22 June.
If you’re applying for more than one operating centre
You need to publish separate adverts if the local areas of the operating centres are covered by different local newspapers.
If they’re in an area covered by the same local newspaper, you only need to publish one advert that includes:
- each operating centre’s address
- the number of vehicles and trailers you’ll be keeping at them
Sending evidence of your advert
Once your advert has been published, you’ll need to upload an image of the whole newspaper page. Do this when you apply for your licence.
The image of the advert needs to include:
- the newspaper’s full name
- the publication date