The new Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness (GtMRW) was published in April 2025.

People will point out it isn’t legislation, but if you do not conform to its advice should there be enforcement action by the DVSA, Traffic Commissioner or even the HSE then you need a very good reason, backed up by risk assessments and evidence, not to follow it.

The Guide says (Section 5.3 Page 48) “To follow best practice and to comply with legislation there is an expectation that every safety inspection will include a brake performance assessment using either a roller brake test, a suitable EBPMS or a decelerometer with temperature reading.

Conducting a laden brake test using a calibrated roller brake tester is the most effective method of measuring individual and overall braking performance.”

There is in fact Regulation 18 of The Road Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 which lists in Paragraph 3 of the legislation the minimum percentage efficiencies required and Section 4 “A goods vehicle shall not be deemed to comply with the requirements of paragraph (3) unless it is capable of complying with those requirements at the laden weight” 

So unless you have a very good reason, a laden roller brake test looks to be your only option, it’s faster to do and more accurate then going round and measuring the temperature of each wheel, carrying out a decelerometer test, then retaking the temperatures.

The GtMRW does say you can undertake 4 evenly spaced tests a year with a decelerometer and temperature test in between but it may not be a saving to do that. Where a laden RBT is not carried out with the safety inspection, a risk assessment must be completed by a competent person who understands braking systems and components to justify why.

What the GtMRW does also advise is that you can undertake a RBT up to 14 days before the PMI, so an Operator can take a vehicle normally loaded for an RBT and use that report with the PMI.

Some vehicles can’t be roller brake tested, such as buses and waste collection vehicles and the GtMRW recognises that, in this instance an annual risk assessment as to why you are exempt must be completed.

For more information go to Roller Brake Test- best practice