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

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.

Since voting to leave the EU in June 2016, Brexit has been a daily topic in the news and although many negotiations and talks have taken place so far, there’s still uncertainty over the effect brexit will have on various industries, work and trade.

What effect will brexit have on the Truck industry?

We thought we’d take a look at a few of the more obvious opportunities and drawbacks that leaving the EU will have, and what this will mean for the Truck industry in Britain.

Trade

If Government whitepaper plans for the UK go according to plan, Brexit could increase trade with the rest of the world. New bilateral trade agreements would allow companies and businesses operating within the UK truck industry to gain access to new markets.

As well as this, increased independence over regulations would allow UK transportation companies to be more involved in the rulemaking and regulation process, which could let these companies operate more efficiently.

Essentially, this means that export opportunities for businesses in the UK could increase, resulting in further demand for transportation – positively impacting on the truck industry.

Border Controls

Goods travelling around the UK and EU after brexit will be affected by bigger, time-consuming checks, this is because the UK will no longer be part of the single market or European Union Customs Union.

The current EU single market process means 10,500 lorries can be processed through borders everyday and there’s no guarantee that this will remain the same after brexit. Longer wait times, queues and delays could be expected which would require more labour and infrastructure, something the UK doesn’t currently have.

Driver Shortage

The UK Truck industry relies heavily on drivers from the EU. Stricter immigration policies could lead to a potential driver shortage.

“The hardest hit of all the transportation sectors would be trucking, where an acute shortage of UK drivers is being worsened by the prospects of an ageing workforce. Trucking relies heavily on drivers from the EU; truck owners are simply not able to recruit enough British drivers to keep pace with demand.

Of the 290,000 drivers of heavy goods vehicles in the UK, approximately 60,000 are from the EU. Any reduction of the sector’s recruitment options will compromise its ability to serve the economy. Any reduction in supply will raise trucking costs for manufacturers.” – Willis Towers Watson.

Contract hire

Although we’re sure to hear much more about the ongoing Brexit negotiations, the only thing that’s guaranteed at the minute is unpredictability, which is a problem for businesses operating high value assets such as trucks.

Our contract hire can help reduce the impact of this uncertainty. By taking out a contract hire vehicle, you know your exact monthly costs and don’t have the burden of a huge deposit to pay. Your capital is freed up to continue running your business, with access to the trucks you need, for the length of time that you need them.

Plus, our in house body and paint centre means that we can custom build truck bodies to your exact specifications and brand them with your businesses colours and logos.

For more information about how how contract hire can benefit your business contact us today.