PDF template
HGV walkaround check sheet.
A printable daily walkaround check sheet for HGVs, covering the items a driver is expected to inspect before the vehicle is used and the record that proves they did.
This is the paper version. FleetOptix does the same job on a phone, with the record filed against the vehicle or the driver automatically.
What is on the sheet
- The exterior and under-vehicle items a driver works through before first use, based on DVSA's driver walkaround check
- Cab and in-cab checks, including the items that can only be tested with the engine running
- An N/A column, so an item that does not apply to the vehicle is marked rather than left blank
- Blank rows at the end of each group, for the items particular to your own vehicles
- A nil-defect line, so a clean check is still a record rather than a gap
- A rectification block — assessment, action, who repaired it and the date it was completed
Why this record matters
A walkaround check is a daily first-use inspection by the driver, and the undertaking on an operator licence is not that checks happen but that defects found are reported in writing. That makes the sheet a record-keeping document as much as an inspection one: an inspection nobody can evidence is, to an examiner, an inspection that did not happen.
The item list is based on DVSA's driver walkaround check, with tachograph, documents and safety equipment kept on as useful additions rather than because the check requires them.
The half most sheets leave off is the end of it. The Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness expects a defect record to show what was found, how it was assessed, what was done and the date the work was finished — so a sheet that stops at who the defect was reported to has recorded the problem and nothing about the response. The rectification block on this one runs to the roadworthiness sign-off.
Use it with
- Van daily check sheetA daily check sheet for vans and light commercial vehicles, for fleets that want the same evidence trail below the operator licensing threshold as above it.
- Trailer walkaround checklistA walkaround checklist for trailers, covering coupling, braking and load-security items that a tractor-unit check does not reach.
- Vehicle defect report formA defect report form that records what was found, who was told, what was done about it and when the vehicle was fit to use again.
- New driver induction checklistAn induction checklist for new drivers, covering the documents to see, the briefings to give and the records that prove both happened.
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. General guidance, not legal advice. Checked October 2026.