Posted: Saturday, 26 May 2018
Do you drive as part of your job? If so, when was the last time you confirmed that your licence information is accurate? If you don't drive for work, perhaps you own or manage a company that employs people who do. When was the last time you ran licence checks on those employees? We ask for one simple reason: running regular licence checks can help you or your employees avoid serious penalties.
A recent report on the Mirror website claims that as many as 7% of British drivers are actually violating the law every time they drive by doing so with licences that have not been properly updated. These are drivers whose licence details are incorrect. Examples include incorrect addresses and incorrect names after getting married.
This is serious business. A driver can be issued a penalty of up to £1,000 if caught driving with an outdated licence. According to the Mirror, the penalty can be handed out to any driver whose licence is flagged after being stopped by police. It doesn't matter whether the person is driving his or her own car, a rental, or even a company car.
The Mirror spoke with Direct Line in preparing their report. Based on the 7% number, Direct Line estimates the government could collect as much as £1 billion in penalties if they were able to catch all the guilty drivers. In fairness, few people end up paying the penalties because catching drivers in violation is so hard to do. But the risk is still there if your licence is not accurate.
The law stipulates that a driving licence needs to be updated whenever the information found on that licence changes. As long as things do not change, licences only have to be updated every 10 years with a new picture. Updating information only is free of charge while getting a new licence with a new picture currently costs £20.
It makes no sense to take the risk of such a serious penalty when updating a driving licence is so easy to do. Whether you are someone who drives for a living or the owner or manager of a company with driving employees, the simple solution to outdated licences is simple: run regular licence checks and then fix any problems you find. Something so simple can easily save £1,000.
Source: The Mirror