Dunsters Farm
Transport Compliance Manager
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Established in 1963, Dunsters Farm is a family-owned, third-generation foodservice wholesaler delivering chilled, ambient, and non-food products to catering customers across the North, Wales, and the Midlands. We operate from depots in Bury, Preston, and Oswestry, running a multi-temperature HGV fleet of 100 vehicles across 80+ daily routes through our own temperature-controlled operation.
We’re proud of what we do and ambitious about where we’re going. Proud winners of the Family Business of the Year Awards 2024 and the Good Employment Charter’s Flexible Working Award 2022, we hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 certification and are committed members of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter and the Real Living Wage. Our vision is simple: Feed the North, for good.
We’re starting a journey through a genuine digital shift: rolling out ePOD, pulling telematics and maintenance data into one system, and starting to explore where AI can genuinely sharpen route planning and compliance monitoring, rather than just add another dashboard. We want people who find that exciting to build, not just tolerate. None of it matters if it doesn’t show up as a better delivery for the businesses who rely on us. However tech-forward the tools get, the standard we’re holding ourselves to is still legendary service, on time, every time.
Location: Based at Bury (Head Office), with compulsory regular visits to Preston and Oswestry.
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Reports to: Senior Transport Manager
Direct reports: Depot Supervisor(s) at Preston and Oswestry.
Job Role
This is a compliance leadership role covering all three Dunsters depots: Preston, Bury, and Oswestry. As Transport Compliance Manager, you take end-to-end ownership of drivers’ hours, vehicle maintenance, and the continuous and effective management of our Operator’s Licence undertakings, reporting to our Senior Transport Manager.
This role deliberately brings maintenance and drivers’ hours compliance together under one accountable owner rather than splitting them, so you’ll be as comfortable in a PMI or defect conversation as you are reviewing a tachograph download or discussing a licence variation with the Traffic Commissioner. It’s a genuinely broad compliance remit, and the single point of accountability for it across the business.
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What You’ll Own
Drivers’ Hours and Compliance
- Own drivers’ hours, tachograph, and Working Time Directive compliance end to end, across all three depots.
- Own the toolbox talk programme and hours-related investigations and disciplinary process, business-wide.
- Maintain a full audit trail via Dunsters’ ePOD/telematics systems.
Vehicle Maintenance
- Own PMI scheduling, MOT, vehicle tax, and defect reporting end to end, across all three sites.
- Build and maintain a strong daily vehicle-check culture across Bury, Preston, and Oswestry.
- Own cost-effective maintenance management and cost control: parts, downtime, contract hire/workshop spend.
- Lead the unification of telematics and maintenance data into one digital system, giving a single, live view of vehicle health, compliance status, and driver behaviour across the business.
O-Licence and Traffic Commissioner Compliance
- Named Transport Manager on the operator’s licence, exercising continuous and effective management of the O-licence undertakings across all three operating centres.
- Represent Dunsters’ compliance standing to the DVSA and Traffic Commissioner, and own audit readiness end to end.
Team Leadership and Development
- Direct line management of the Depot Supervisor(s) at Preston and Oswestry.
- Own compliance oversight and support to the Bury depot supervisor and the Transport Operations Manager, even where line management sits elsewhere.
- Support Dunsters’ One Team culture through regular, scheduled presence across all three sites.
Skills and Experience Required
Essential
- Transport Manager CPC (Road Haulage), named or eligible to be named on the operator’s licence.
- Strong working knowledge of drivers’ hours, tachograph, Working Time Directive, and vehicle maintenance/PMI compliance.
- Experience managing O-licence undertakings and engaging directly with the DVSA and Traffic Commissioner.
- Comfortable using compliance and maintenance data and digital systems to drive standards, not just administer them.
- Flexible, with compulsory travel between Bury, Preston, and Oswestry.
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Desirable
- FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) experience: working towards or maintaining FORS accreditation.
- DVSA Earned Recognition experience: running the digital driver-hours and maintenance systems that feed DVSA’s KPI reporting, and managing that relationship.
- Experience unifying telematics and maintenance systems into a single digital platform.
What Kind of Person Are We Looking For?
We’re on a genuine digital journey, and as we lean into digital tools and AI-enabled compliance and maintenance systems, we need someone who’s tech-focused: someone who sees a digital compliance system as a way to catch problems sooner, not just another reporting chore. Compliance at Dunsters isn’t paperwork for its own sake either: it’s part of how we protect the legendary service our customers rely on, so we want that customer-centred instinct as much as the technical grip. Hungry, humble, and accountable, comfortable working at pace and prioritising across three sites of very different size and character.
Our Core Values
Our values are the foundation of everything we do at Dunsters Farm:
- Get Results: we strive for excellence, driving efficiency and delivering outstanding outcomes.
- One Team: we work together, united by a common goal, supporting and empowering each other.
- Give Back: we make a positive impact on our community and our environment through responsible business.
- Legendary Customer Service: we go above and beyond to exceed our customers’ expectations, every time.
- Own It: we take ownership of our actions, responsibilities, and results, always striving to improve.
- World-Leading Standards: we set the highest standards in safety, quality, and excellence at every step.
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