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Driving Licence Update: Government Acquiesces on 72-Hour Policy

Posted: Tuesday, 14 July 2015

More than a month after the abolition of the paper driving licence counterpart, the government has acquiesced on one of the programme's most controversial points: the 72-our policy regarding access codes that consumers can use to provide licence information for car hire. Codes are now good for three weeks at a time.

Under the initial policy, someone wishing to rent a car would have to provide the hire company an access code enabling the company to check online driving licence records for speeding violations and convictions. The problem was that access codes, which have to be acquired by individual drivers, were only good for 72 hours. That was not nearly enough time for the average consumer. The new three-week window makes car hire easier in most cases.

What has not changed is the quality of the DVLA website consumers and companies are supposed to use to access driver information. The site is still prone to crashing – sometimes due to heavy traffic and other times for no apparent reason at all. It continues to be a frustration for drivers all across the UK. Hopefully, the government will invest a considerable amount of time and resources into getting the site up to speed.

Motoring Company Options

We have advised motoring companies in the past regarding options for checking driving licences in the absence of a new system for employers. One of those options is to ask new hires and current employees to furnish access codes for the same website that car hire companies use. A personnel manager or fleet manager can then access the same system.

As we have explained, this option is not the optimal solution. First, drivers may not be forthcoming with codes if they know employers are watching or, in other cases, an employer still has trouble checking a licence because the government website continues to crash. The second problem is that this sort of check is incomplete. A better option is to enlist the services of Fleet Licence Check to check driving licences for you.

What We Do

Fleet Licence Check is a claims handling and licence checking company with decades of experience. Where licences are concerned, we use software that gives us direct access to the government database – separate from the new system now being implemented. We are also members of the Association for Driving Licence Verification. When we check licences for your company, we will be checking for convictions, category entitlements, photocard expiration, expired or revoked licences, serious offences (such as drink or drug driving), and address changes.

Our licence checking services enable companies of all sizes to verify the licences of their drivers and to demonstrate they have taken every reasonable step to ensure only licenced, qualified drivers are operating company vehicles. Not only does this make company drivers safer, it reduces our client's exposure to liability in the event of a serious accident. Do not wait for the government to fix what is broken; let us check driving licences for you.

Source: The Mirror