No DVLA check should mean no keys

You may have read or heard about the fact that the DVLA has decided to do away with the counterpart portion of your driving licence. In principle this is a great idea but unfortunately not especially well thought out as many fleet operators and fleet management companies scramble to catch the fallout.

By Marc McLoughlin, KeyFleet.

It will be fine, we will survive – just thank the lord you aren’t in the vehicle rental business!

But what it does throw into focus is Driving at Work obligations. So put the imminent counterpart change aside for one moment and lets talk about why, now more than ever, its essential that you check your drivers licences with the DVLA via some form of digital check.

Permitting a journey

By ‘allowing a journey to take place’ on behalf of your business you are giving your permission to that driver to use your, or their own vehicle, as an extension of your workplace to carry out a business task. (Yes this covers their vehicle too..)

Pretty straight forward. It's your obligation to make sure that the environment in which they carry out this task is safe for them and anyone else affected – much as you would with fire regulations or PC wires across the office floor.

Of course the driver has responsibilities under the highway code and road laws but from your perspective the least you can do is check that they have a licence right?

Imagine if you get the call from the insurer telling you that they wont pay out as the driver wasn’t licensed. Heaven forbid its a serious accident with a fatality – in which case it wont just be the insurer calling you.

Now this might sound ‘scaremongery’ and in our industry you have to be careful when you play the ‘obligatory’ card but in this instance thats exactly what Im doing.

There is a strong business case, as well as obligatory, for managing your Occupational Road Risk effectively and having a full risk averse fleet policy – feel free to give me a call and I'll tell you all about it!

But in the meantime, please check that they have a licence, for your sake and theirs. You can check directly with the DVLA, or through a third party like ourselves, but either way please do check.

If you are interested in learning more about Driving at Work, the business case, your obligations or just some general advice then please do drop me a line.

If you would like to check your drivers licences and need some help please visit http://www.fleetpainrelief.co.uk/drive/ where we are offering a 25% discount on your first order or give Tony Hogan or myself a call on 03303 13 11 11 for a chat. PS. We checked a fleet of 217 drivers last week. Two banned. Just saying.