The Importance of Licence Checking
When running a fleet, it can seem next to impossible to keep track of your drivers’ information. Checking which drivers have licences that are expired or need updating, or those that may have points or disqualifications can often seem like a monumental task. This is particularly true for larger fleets that may have dozens, or even hundreds of drivers with unchecked details.
Why do we need to check licences?
Not checking your drivers’ licences means that they could be driving illegally, which can have huge ramifications for your business. Driving without a valid licence is a criminal offence that can earn your drivers 3-6 points, a fine of up to £1000 and possible disqualification.
This doesn’t just count for drivers whose licence may be expired – it also applies to drivers who have outdated information or an invalid photograph on their licence. If you don’t know exactly what’s going on, you could be sending unlicenced drivers onto the road, increasing the likelihood of accidents that could lead to injury, damage, and additional costs for your business.
That’s why it’s so important to check that your drivers:
– Are not driving certain vehicle types without the correct licence to do so
– Have a licence that is both valid and in date
– Have made any points or penalties known to you
– Are not disqualified from driving
– Have a fully updated licence, including all personal information and photographs
A visual check won’t tell you the whole story – since the abolition of the paper counterpart driver’s licence in June 2015, there’s no longer any easy way for an employer to obtain information such as points and fines.
Manually carrying out these checks on all of your drivers can seem overwhelming and time-consuming. That’s why increasingly, businesses are looking to external providers to arrange these checks on their behalf in a quick, efficient and thorough manner.
What can we do for you?
Safedrive offers this service as a provision to all of our clients. Licence checks can be carried out for any size fleet with no upper or lower limits on numbers. Through our provider, we are able to check your drivers’ details against the DVSA database to provide you with the most up to date and accurate information available.
If used as part of a recruitment or interview process, these checks can help make sure that you don’t employ disqualified or otherwise less than ideal drivers, as well as protecting you from drivers who may not be honest about their driving history. This enables you to comply with business legislation and ‘Duty of Care’ obligations, which can help to reduce your corporate risk and potentially save you a sizeable amount on your insurance premiums.
It’s estimated that around 80% of drivers are unaware that photo card-style driving licences expire, so many often forget that they even need to be updated! But our system will update you on all changes, as well as new penalties and points – even the ones drivers don’t tell you about.
Your drivers’ results will be available 24/7 online, with full information accessible to you whenever you need it via the Dashboard. You’ll be able to generate tailor-made reports to suit your business needs, and we’re always standing by ready to offer advice or information when required.
If you’d like some more information about our licence checking service, or if you’d like us to provide a quote for your business, you can email us here, or contact the office on 01952 298990.