Left is what a person actually meets on clever.usehaf.co.uk right now. Right is the change you asked for: a normal account first, and nothing asked of anyone until they choose to start real work.
Seven moments between a stranger arriving and a verified operator on the network.
They must decide what they are before they have an account. Two different forms, and the one they pick decides everything that follows.
Vehicle reg up frontCompany number up front
One form for everybody. They open a normal HAF account — nothing more is asked, because nothing more is needed yet.
4 fieldsCategory chosen later
The account exists the moment the form is sent. A typo in the address, or somebody else's address, still produces a working account that then goes on to upload documents.
Not checked before they are in
Confirming the email is the one thing standing between them and their account. Confirm it and you are in. Don't, and there is nothing to sign in to.
One gate, and only one
Both forms end the same way: the person is sent straight to the documents page. Logging back in does the same thing if they never finished. That upload list is the first thing a brand new sign-up ever sees.
Documents before anything else
They land on their own account. It says what HAF is, what they can do next, and offers three ways to start real work. No upload list, no forms, nothing outstanding.
An account, not a to-do list
Everyone who signs up is asked for the same pile before they have asked HAF for anything:
Asked of a curious stranger
Nothing. A normal account is asked for no document, no licence, no insurance, no company paper, ever — until the person presses one of the three buttons below.
Compliance starts when they ask to do work that needs it, which is also the only point where HAF has a lawful reason to hold any of it.
Nothing held that we don't need
There is no such moment. The category was fixed at sign-up, and the checks already ran. A driver who later wants to run a fleet has no route — and a company that only wants to book a delivery has been put through a driver's paperwork.
One-way, decided too early
Three buttons on their account. Pressing one starts that route, and only that route's checks. They can hold more than one over time, and the account they already had carries on working the whole while.
HAF PLNAFleet PLNACompany
One list for everybody, whether it applies to them or not. A freight customer booking a van is asked for a driving licence; a driver is asked for a VAT certificate.
Same list for everyone
Three separate checks, each asking only for what its own route genuinely needs. Set out underneath.
Only what the route needs
Every sign-up arrives already labelled a driver or a company, already carrying a half-done document list, already in your queue — including the ones who were only looking.
A queue full of people who never started
Everyone sits under Accounts as a normal account and makes no work for you. They move into Driver, Fleet or Business only when they start that route — so your queue is people who have actually asked for something.
Already live in your portal
These are the only three things that trigger a check. Everything else on HAF is a normal account.
A person who wants to drive work on the network themselves.
What we ask forDriving licenceGOV.UK check codePhoto IDInsuranceVehicle + MOT
A business putting its own drivers onto the network.
What we ask forCompany on the registerDirector confirmedFleet insuranceEach driver checked
A business booking work, not driving it.
What we ask forCompany on the registerDirector confirmedNo licenceNo vehicle
The Companies House key is installed and answering, and I have proved it against a real active company today.
Given a company number, it tells us the company is real, that it is active rather than dissolved, its registered address, and the names and dates of birth of its officers. That half is solid and needs nothing from anybody.
The gap: the register proves a company exists and that a name is a director of it. It cannot prove that the person filling in your form is that named person. Anyone can read a director's name off the public register in ten seconds.
This is your call, not mine, because it is the trade between how safe the network is and how many companies give up halfway. Pick one and I will build it.