Braking performance assessment requirements from April 2025

In a significant move to enhance road safety, the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has announced that, effective April 2025, there is an expectation that every safety inspection will include a brake performance assessment using either an RBT, a suitable electronic brake performance monitoring system (EBPMS) or a decelerometer with temperature readings. If EBPMS is not used it is expected there is a minimum of four laden brake tests spread evenly across the year, this can include the annual test.

Acceptable reasons for not carrying out a laden brake assessment.

Vehicles where laden brake assessments may not be possible or where additional loading would be difficult are listed below (this is not an exhaustive list), however there is an expectation that at least four of the assessments will use an RBT unless the construction or weight of the vehicle prevents its use.

Vehicles where under normal operating conditions (more than 70% of the time) run at less than 65% of the permitted axle weights. This may include car transporters where they are designed for that specific task
Furniture removal vehicles – Only when designed and constructed as a furniture removal vehicle
ADR – Only when the load is considered dangerous and specialist facilities are not available
Vehicles operating at 50% or more of permitted axle weights when unladen – This could include fixed plant, mobile libraries, compactor vehicles, exhibition type vehicles, bullion vehicles, etc.

Where a laden brake test is not carried out a risk assessment detailing the reasons, must be completed by a competent person who understands braking systems and its components at every safety inspection.

There must be an evaluation of the vehicle/ trailer performance report before every safety inspection by a competent person who can interpret the data. The evaluation must be signed, dated, and attached to the vehicle record together with the performance data report. The evaluation and data report may be a single document.

To allow flexibility vehicles can be presented for brake testing up to 14 days before the safety inspection date; this allows the operator to conduct a laden brake test during the vehicle/trailer normal activities without the need to specially load it.

Reliable brake testing is crucial to ensure road safety, helping to identify any potential brake issues that may lead to accidents on the road, minimising risks to the HGV drivers and other road users.

What does this update mean for you?

To follow best practice and comply with the proposed new legislation, the DVSA expect that with every safety inspection a brake performance assessment is completed with an RBT, suitable electronic brake performance monitoring system (EBPMS) or using a decelerometer and taking temperature readings as the sole method for evaluating brake performance.

In some cases, a loaded brake test may be impractical. As such, if a vehicle or trailer consistently operates under specific conditions, exemptions may apply. Examples include:

ADR vehicles: when the load is considered dangerous, and specialist facilities are unavailable.
Livestock carriers: when recreating the load is not possible.
Noxious load carriers: only if the vehicle is specifically designed for this purpose.
Furniture removal vehicles: only if the vehicle is specifically designed for this purpose.
Public service vehicles: this includes prisoner transfer vehicles.
Vehicles that operate at 50% or more of permitted axle weight when unladen. This could include fixed plant, mobile libraries, compactor vehicles or bullion transport vehicles.
Vehicles that more than 70% of the time run at less than 65% of the permitted axle weights, these may include car transporters or unladen tri-axle semi-trailers.

For businesses running vehicles not fitted with an EBPMS (currently only available on trailers) or exempt, a minimum of four laden RBT assessments are required, these are to be spread evenly across the year and include the existing requirement to conduct a RBT at each MOT test. To ensure minimal disruption, these tests can be completed as early as 14 days before the next safety inspection date.

A risk assessment (example here) must be available to support every safety inspection where a laden brake test is not completed. The operator will still be responsible for a risk assessment is in place to justify any exemption. This assessment should be:

Available to review during every safety inspection.

Updated annually, or whenever there is a change in vehicle use.

Retained with vehicle maintenance documents for 15 months.

What Should Our Customers Do?

At Mac’s Truck Rental, we are dedicated to providing safe and roadworthy vehicles to our customers and as part of this dedication we will be working with our customers to ensure they re-main compliant.

To achieve this, we will continue to complete our standard 4 laden RBTs per year across our managed fleets, while supporting our customers’ unique operational needs but will offer an increase in the frequency of the laden brake tests being conducted at the customer’s request. (Conditions apply).

We will be available to assist our customers, offering advice on how the new requirements affect their operations, any potential cost implications and providing information on keeping their own fleet in compliance.

For more information on the Braking performance assessment requirements from April 2025 and further reading please see below links.

Guide to maintaining roadworthiness: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6751b5d044885d072cecbd62/guide-to-maintaining-roadworthiness-commercial-goods-and-public-service-vehicles.pdf

Brake test risk assessment: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67362fbaf6920bfb5abc7bc1/annex-7-example-of-a-brake-assessment-risk-assessment-template.pdf

Understanding your HGV or trailer’s brake test report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-your-hgv-or-trailers-brake-test-report/understanding-your-hgv-or-trailers-brake-test-report

EBPMS Industry Standard Specification:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-braking-performance-monitoring-systems/electronic-braking-performance-monitoring-system-ebpms-industry-standard-specification

Moffet Forklift Mounted To Read of Curtainsider Truck

Fill in your details below to get more information from the team at Mac’s Truck Rental, whether you’re looking into contract hire or simply want to know more about one of our trucks.

This week we’re featuring a truck that’s often referred to as a piggyback or moffett mounted. Named piggyback for obvious reasons, a Moffett M5 truck is mounted onto the back of a curtain-sided truck, providing businesses with a truck rental that can both transport goods and distribute them once they’ve arrived at their destination.

Specifically, piggyback forklift rental includes a Moffett M5, which is designed to handle lift capacities up to 2500kg. This makes it perfect for a range of industrial and commercial projects, as its built-in safety features result in the perfect combination of peace of mind and performance.

With a huge 2.5-tonne lifting capacity, piggyback forklift rental makes the delivery and safe, precise unloading of materials, simple. Applications the truck-mounted forklift is ideal for include:

Turf delivery
Delivery of building materials
Delivery of agfeed & fertiliser
Emergency Services
Delivery of scaffolding material
Distribution of extrusions

This means that when you take out piggyback forklift rental with us, you’re making the most of a cost-effective combo, as both the truck and forklift can be operated by the same driver, keeping your drivers open for other jobs.

The curtainsider truck itself can also be specified to your requirements. All of our piggyback forklift rental trucks come with Euro VI engines and are inclusive of maintenance, but with manufacturing facilities on-site, we can also make these trucks bespoke.

That means you can make this, or indeed any truck, bespoke to the needs of your business. With crane mounted trucks, beavertails, skip trucks and many more available, our team can help you find a great truck with low monthly payments.

Our rental options are designed to provide customers with the best service possible. Specifically, we offer contract hire on all of our trucks, which means that you benefit from:

Low initial capital expenditure. Spreading the cost on a weekly/monthly basis means you can lease a piggyback forklift truck you need without spending the full amount it’s worth.
Forklift mounted truck leasing prices are personalised to your company, meaning you can arrange payments and terms depending on what’s best for your business. Companies also get the benefit of knowing their monthly outgoing costs, with no surprises.
Maintenance and breakdown are covered. This is a huge benefit when leasing a piggyback forklift truck – if something should happen to your truck and it breaks down, we’ll fix it. Therefore there’s no outlay or long-term downtime as it’s in everyone’s best interest to get your truck fully operational again!
Leasing a new moffett mounted truck (or a late used truck) will always give you access to the latest technology and economy standards, particularly important for businesses operating in London / within the Low Emissions Zone (LEZ).
Leasing a forklift mounted truck can reduce your tax bill, by offsetting truck leasing prices against your taxable profits. If you’re charged VAT on your truck rental, this is also reclaimable.
Long-term truck leasing still provides the same branding options as purchasing a truck, with optional colours and branding across the vehicle.

For more information on piggyback forklift rental, get in touch.