Posted: Friday, 09 June 2017
If you have ever wondered whether a regular driver licence check is necessary for your company drivers, you need look no further than a number of recent news stories that show just what can happen when a person is caught driving without a proper licence.
There have been a couple of stories detailing taxi drivers found operating without proper licences, but the one that got our attention is the story of a 60-year-old Dundee man who was found driving with a fake Latvian licence. Dundee Sheriff Court recently sentenced him to 110 hours of community service.
News reports state that the man was found with the fake licence at his home in July 2015. He apparently acknowledged possessing the licence and knowing it was fake. Upon appearing in court, Sheriff Alastair Carmichael chose to be lenient due to the man's age, his lack of education, and the fact that he had never been in trouble with the law before. Still, Carmichael characterised the charge as a serious one.
In this particular case, it does not appear that the man in question was a professional driver, or even that he was employed at all. But what if he were a younger man brought to Britain to work as a lorry driver in an industry that is desperately short of qualified workers? What if he had come here of his own volition and attempted to get work as a van driver?
The only way for a potential employer to know whether a job applicant's driving licence is legitimate or not is to run a driver licence check. And even after someone has been employed for some time, a routine check ensures that the employer knows what is going on with that person's licence. Failure to conduct regular checks could result in people that have no business being on the road driving company vehicles.
It is fortunate that this case ended without an accident resulting in serious injuries and deaths. Fortunately, the guilty party was found at his home rather than out on the roads. Things could have been worse. Driving without a legitimate licence is a serious offence because it endangers the lives of other people. In fact, it is serious enough that employers need to be proactive about doing regular driver licence checks on all company drivers.
Source: Evening Telegraph