Business guidance

Transport & Logistics

Apply for a taxi operator licence in Northern Ireland

To run a taxi business in Northern Ireland you need an operator licence from the Department for Infrastructure, applied for through the Driver and Vehicle Agency under the Taxis Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. Only licensed taxis and licensed drivers may work for you, and you must meet conditions on insurance, records and complaints.

Transport & Logistics

Apply for your taxi or private hire licences

Apply for the licences that fit your role as driver, vehicle owner or operator, and get each one before you carry a fare. The steps follow the order an owner-driver applies in. London, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own licensing bodies.

Transport & Logistics

Aviation cargo security compliance

If you ship or handle air cargo, the Civil Aviation Authority can certify you as a Known Consignor, for businesses sending their own goods, or a Regulated Agent, for forwarders and handlers. Secure cargo then travels without extra screening, provided you keep up security training, procedures and records.

Transport & Logistics

Avoid overloading and secure your loads

Operators, drivers and loaders share the legal duty to keep loads secure and within the weights on the vehicle's plating certificate, and all three can be prosecuted. DVSA checks and weighs vehicles at the roadside. An insecure load brings an immediate prohibition, and overloading carries fines of up to £5,000 per offence plus penalty points.

Transport & Logistics

Carry dangerous goods by road (ADR)

If your business sends, packs, loads or carries dangerous goods by road in Great Britain, you must follow the international ADR rules. That means correct packaging and paperwork, qualified drivers, a safety adviser in most cases and reporting serious incidents. Serious breaches can lead to an unlimited fine or two years in prison.

Agriculture & Farming

Check UK drone class mark, Remote ID and registration dates

Check which UK drone rules have applied since 1 January 2026 and which change on 1 January 2028. By then EU C-class drones stop counting as UK classes, more drones need Remote ID, and the General VLOS Certificate is no longer issued. Operator ID and Flyer ID rules stay the same.

Transport & Logistics

Check your drivers hold a valid Driver CPC

Lorry, bus and coach drivers need a Driver CPC on top of their vocational licence, and must complete 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years. Employers commit an offence by letting a driver drive without one. Which type of training a driver chooses decides whether they can drive in Europe.

Transport & Logistics

Choose your taxi or private hire business model

Decide between a taxi, a private hire vehicle and taking bookings before you apply. Your choice sets your licences and how you work with drivers.

Transport & Logistics

Clean Air Zones and emission requirements for goods vehicles

Clean Air Zones in England charge non-compliant vehicles a daily fee, and classes B, C and D all cover HGVs. Diesels meeting Euro 6/VI and petrol vehicles meeting Euro 4 avoid the charge. London runs separate schemes through Transport for London, and Scotland's low emission zones issue penalty charge notices.

Transport & Logistics

Compliance for van and light goods vehicle operators

What applies when operating vans and light goods vehicles under 3.5 tonnes. Vans do not need an operator licence but must meet motor insurance, MOT, road tax, Clean Air Zone, driving licence, and loading requirements under the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Comply with UK Emissions Trading Scheme

If you run a regulated installation or aviation operation, or from 1 July 2026 qualifying ships, monitor your greenhouse gas emissions through the year, submit a verified report by 31 March and surrender enough allowances to cover them by 30 April. Missing these triggers automatic penalties.

Transport & Logistics

Crew your UK ship with certified, fit seafarers

A company crewing a seagoing UK-registered ship must make sure officers and key ratings hold the right STCW certificates, every seafarer has a valid medical certificate, the ship carries the manning its Safe Manning Document sets, and seafarers' employment meets Maritime Labour Convention standards.

Transport & Logistics

Duties to passengers for taxi and private hire drivers

Know your duties to disabled passengers, including wheelchair users and people with assistance dogs, and the limits on what you can charge.

Transport & Logistics

DVSA Enforcement and Your Operator Compliance Risk Score

Understand how DVSA uses the Operator Compliance Risk Score to target enforcement, what Green, Amber and Red ratings mean for your business, and practical steps to improve your score through better compliance.

Retail & Consumer Goods

EV Charging Infrastructure

Install EV chargepoints and access government grants.

Transport & Logistics

Follow drivers' hours and tachograph rules for goods vehicles

Goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes follow the assimilated drivers' hours rules and record them on a tachograph, while smaller or exempt vehicles follow simpler GB domestic limits. Operators must download driver cards every 28 days and vehicle units every 90 days. Breaches risk fixed penalties of £50 to £300, prohibition and prosecution.

Transport & Logistics

Freight forwarding and customs representation

If you make customs declarations for clients, you act as their direct or indirect representative, and indirect representation makes you jointly liable for the duty. Storing goods with duty suspended needs a customs warehousing authorisation from HMRC, and moving dangerous goods above thresholds needs a dangerous goods safety adviser.

Transport & Logistics

Get an operator's licence for goods vehicles

You need an operator's licence to use goods vehicles over 3,500kg gross plated weight for hire or reward or for your business, and for some vans on international hire or reward work. A standard licence needs good repute, financial standing, a qualified transport manager and an operating centre.

Transport & Logistics

Get a spaceflight or spaceport licence

You need a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority to carry out spaceflight activities, to operate a spaceport or to provide range control services in the UK. Each licence needs a safety case and liability cover, and acting without one is a criminal offence under the Space Industry Act 2018.

Transport & Logistics

Get licences and insurance to run a taxi or private hire business

The driver, the vehicle and, for private hire, the operator each need a licence from the same council, and every vehicle carrying paying passengers needs hire and reward insurance. Knowingly operating a private hire vehicle without the right licence is an offence.

Transport & Logistics

Get licensed to run a bus or coach business

To carry fare-paying passengers in a vehicle for nine or more people, you need a PSV operator licence from the traffic commissioner, or a permit if you run not for profit. A local bus service must also be registered before it starts, and buses on local or scheduled services must be accessible.

Transport & Logistics

Get your air operator licences and certificates

To carry passengers or cargo by air for payment, you need a CAA operating licence, which checks your ownership, finances and insurance, and an air operator certificate, which checks you can fly safely. Each aircraft must be airworthy and each pilot licensed, and passenger and dangerous goods rules may apply.

Transport & Logistics

Insurance for goods vehicle operators

Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires every vehicle on a public road to have at least third-party insurance, fleets included. Goods in transit cover is not a legal requirement, but most contracts demand it. Internationally, the CMR Convention limits carrier liability to 8.33 Special Drawing Rights per kilogramme.

Transport & Logistics

International Road Haulage Permits and Cabotage

To carry goods abroad by road you need a Standard International operator licence. Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, laden journeys to and from the EU need no extra permit, non-EU countries need ECMT or bilateral permits, and cabotage and cross-trade inside the EU are strictly limited.

Transport & Logistics

Keep your goods vehicles roadworthy

If you hold an operator licence, you must inspect each vehicle and trailer at the interval you declared on the vehicle operator licensing service, have drivers check and report defects every day, and keep the records for 15 months. Heavy goods vehicles and most trailers also need an annual test.

Transport & Logistics

Licensing and safety for rail operators

To run trains on Great Britain's mainline, you need an operating licence and a safety certificate from the Office of Rail and Road, and a track access agreement it has approved. Carrying dangerous goods also requires RID compliance.

Manufacturing & Engineering

Meet your annual UK ETS obligations

If you run an installation covered by the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, you need a permit and registry account, must monitor emissions all year, submit a verified report by 31 March and surrender allowances to cover them by 30 April. Missing the surrender deadline brings a penalty for every allowance not surrendered.

Transport & Logistics

Meet your postal and courier regulatory duties

If you run goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, you need an operator's licence from the Traffic Commissioner. Postal services operate under Ofcom's general authorisation, so you do not need an individual postal licence.

Agriculture & Farming

Open, Specific and Certified drone categories explained

Lower-risk drone flights in the Open category need no CAA permission, but any job that breaks its weight, height or line-of-sight limits needs an Operational Authorisation first. Crop spraying by drone has no commercial authorisation in the UK and is allowed only under HSE trial permits.

Transport & Logistics

Operate a pipeline safely

You must notify the HSE before you build a pipeline and keep a written safety management system once it runs. A pipeline carrying a dangerous fluid is a major accident hazard pipeline, which you cannot operate until you have a prevention document and emergency arrangements in place.

Transport & Logistics

Operate a rail terminal or station

If you manage and operate a station or a freight terminal on Great Britain's mainline railway, you must keep a safety management system and hold a safety authorisation from the Office of Rail and Road before trains use it. Passenger facilities also carry accessibility duties.

Transport & Logistics

Pay vehicle excise duty and the HGV levy on goods vehicles

Goods vehicles over 3,500kg need vehicle tax set by weight and axles, and vehicles of 12,000kg or more also pay the HGV levy, taken in the same DVLA transaction. For licences taken out from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, trade vehicles pay a temporary nominal rate of vehicle tax, but the levy stays in full.

Transport & Logistics

Prepare for a Traffic Commissioner public inquiry

A Traffic Commissioner can call you to a public inquiry to decide whether to act against your goods vehicle operator licence. You get at least 21 days' notice. Show that your systems now work, attend in person, and lodge any appeal with the Upper Tribunal within one month.

Transport & Logistics

Register and operate a sea-going ship

Every commercially operated ship must be registered on the UK Ship Register and surveyed and certified before it sails. Passenger ships and larger cargo ships on international voyages must also run a safety management system under the ISM Code.

Construction & Property

Respond to an infrastructure project that affects your property

If a nationally significant infrastructure project would take or affect your land or business premises, you can register to take part in the examination and ask for hearings. You may be able to make the promoter buy your property early, and you can claim compensation if land is taken.

Transport & Logistics

Run airport ground services and meet air cargo security rules

If you operate an airport, handle aircraft or passengers on the ground, or move air cargo through the secure supply chain, you must meet the aviation security rules the Civil Aviation Authority enforces. Airport operators also need a safety certificate or licence, and the largest airports an economic licence.

Transport & Logistics

Run passenger or freight services on inland and categorised waters

To run passenger or freight boats on canals, rivers, estuaries or harbours, you need a licence from the navigation authority that controls the water. The person in charge must hold an MCA Boatmaster's Licence, and accidents must be reported to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

Transport & Logistics

Run port or cargo-handling services

If you run a harbour, berth or terminal where ships load and unload, you must meet the national standard for port marine safety and, where ships on international voyages call, port security rules. That means a designated duty holder, an approved port facility security plan and a security officer.

Transport & Logistics

Smart tachograph requirements and transition

Vehicles on international journeys needed a smart tachograph 2 by 31 December 2024, or by 18 August 2025 if they had a smart 1 unit, and from 1 July 2026 goods vehicles over 2.5 tonnes on international hire-and-reward work need a full smart 2. Domestic-only vehicles need not retrofit.

Transport & Logistics

UK Space Industry Licensing

Obtain licences for satellite operations, launches, and space activities.

Tax & Finance

Check if you need to register for VAT

You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.

Compliance & Legal

File your confirmation statement

File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.

Premises & Operations

Meet your business waste duty of care

Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.

Compliance & Legal

Verify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC

Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.