Posted: Wednesday, 21 January 2015
We frequently talk about the necessity of checking driving licences as a means of protecting both your company and your drivers. A recent day in the Oxfordshire court system illustrates why. According to The Herald (Abingdon), six of the 20 individuals appearing in court were there for driving related offences. That is 30% for those keeping score.
Among the six offenders, two admitted to speeding, three admitted to drink driving, and one was convicted of drink driving. The speeders were issued fines and licence points while the others received fines and driving bans. The most severe penalty was issued to a 46-year-old Milton woman who received a three-year driving ban and an 18-month community order along with fines and surcharges.
The unfortunate truth is that there are plenty of drivers willing to violate the law when behind the wheel. Most of them will never be hired to operate vehicles professionally because their records will be known beforehand. However, other drivers will commit certain offences after they have been hired. This is why we recommend routine licence checks for companies that employ drivers.
Routine licence checks are the only tool that companies have at their disposal to make sure all of their drivers remain above the law. In a perfect world, we would like to think that workers would voluntarily tell employers about speeding infractions and other offences. Nevertheless, we do not live in a perfect world. Fear of losing one's job often motivates professional drivers to keep infractions hidden.
The same applies to workers who use company vehicles as part of their employment even though they do not technically qualify as professional drivers. This would include sales representatives, repair technicians, etc. Their licences need to be checked as frequently as those of professional drivers do.
UK companies can continue checking the licences of their drivers on their own until the paper licence is phased out later this year (2015). From that point on, companies can continue checking on their own or work with a company such as Fleet Licence Check. You should know that the Government's free, online licence checking service will only be free for a limited time. Companies will eventually pay a fee for every transaction.
We believe you are better off partnering with us to perform all of your licence checks. We have years of experience, checking about 20,000 licences annually. Our service allows you to check licences as frequently as you like without any of the hassle of dealing with the Government. We offer an affordable service that saves you time, money, and resources.
Fleet Licence Check was originally established to provide claims handling services to UK motoring companies. We have since expanded our services to include licence checking. Please contact us for more information about our one-off and package services, regardless of the size of your company and the scope of your business. If you operate any company vehicles, you can benefit from the services we offer.