Posted: Tuesday, 10 March 2015
By the time the paper driving licences are phased out in June (2015), the Government should have its new Share Driving Licence scheme up and running. The scheme involves a brand-new database that employers will be able to utilise in order to check the driving licences of their workers. According to Fleet News UK, it will also include a driver component enabling the licence holder to control who has access to information.
According to the Fleet News report, individual drivers can restrict access to their information by logging on to the government's website and creating an account and password. A driver can then create an additional passcode that can be given to third parties who have a right to see driver data. In theory, a professional driver would provide that passcode to an employer who could then use the system to check records.
It must be noted that the DVLA is only offering the new system free of charge for a limited time. The hope is to get employers on board with the scheme as early adopters. However, once the free trial period has expired companies will have to pay for every licence check transaction. They will also be responsible for getting the pass code information from any driver they want to check.
At Fleet Licence Check, we believe the licence checking services we offer a better alternative to the Government's Share Driving Licence scheme. We are already an approved licence checking company handling about 20,000 licence checks annually. We have computer software that directly accesses DVLA records in order to return a report directly to our customers' e-mail accounts.
Allowing a company such as Fleet Licence Check to handle licence checking responsibilities completely alleviates your company of the responsibility of yet another administrative task. When you're not spending time checking driving licences and maintaining records, that time can be better spent doing more important things for your business. We make licence checking completely hassle-free by doing the work for you.
Checking the driving licences of your employees is essential for protecting your company's reputation, safety record and finances. Not checking licences is an open invitation to disaster. Never forget that your company could be held personally responsible in the event that one of your drivers, who should not have been driving, is involved in an accident. And heaven forbid that accident results in injuries or even death.
Eliminating the paper copy of the driving licence is the next logical step as the UK seeks to transition into the digital age. In the long term, it will be a better system making driver data more easily accessible. But in the short term, there are likely to be plenty of bumps in the road. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to navigate those bumps by checking driving licences on your own. Instead, let Fleet Licence Check do it for you. We have been serving UK motoring companies for more than 20 years.
Source: Fleet News UK