December 7, 2022
Abby Nuttall
Articles
Fleet management involves a range of different activities to look after the vehicles and your drivers, one of which is driving licence checks. Today we want to give you an insight into the checks you should be doing, why and how to do them and how Wessex Fleet can help.
Why Do You Need to Check Your Fleet Drivers’ Licences?
As a business, you have a duty of care to make sure that all of your employees are safe at work and for employees that drive as part of their role, or are provided with a company vehicle to drive this responsibility includes ensuring they are legally allowed to drive that vehicle. Beyond that you also want to make sure that they are able to safely and confidently operate the vehicle. Driving licence checks are key to fulfilling this responsibility.
What to Look for When Checking Driving Licences
When you perform driving licence checks there are two areas to look at. The first is that their licence entitles them to drive the vehicle they are operating, for example someone with an automatic licence is not provided with a manual vehicle or if they are driving a minibus they have a D1 entitlement.
The second area you will want to look at is whether they have any driving points or convictions on their licence. This can indicate an area where the driver might benefit from additional support and training that you are able to provide them with.
Supporting your employees in improving their driving habits not only helps you with fulfilling your duty of care responsibilities but also helps them to become safer drivers, protecting themselves, company assets (the vehicles) and other road users.
How Regularly Should You Check Driving Licences?
We recommend checking your drivers’ licences when they first start with the business and then annually after this. However, if you have employees whose role involves frequent driving then you might want to run the checks more frequently to pick up on any new driving endorsements or changes to their entitlement to drive quickly as it could impact their ability to complete their job.
Does the Driver Have to Know We are Checking Their Licences?
Yes. You will need the driver’s permission to check their driving licence.
This can be as permission to check your driving licence repeatedly over a time period or a one-time check. We recommend the former as you will be running regular checks and the one time code can be a timely process for you and your employees. Here at Wessex Fleet, we will usually obtain permission to check the licence over a set period of time (3 years) and once this time has passed request permission again in order to keep our clients compliant.
Wessex Fleet Driving Licence Checks
We offer fully secure and GDPR compliant driving licence checks as part of our fleet management services via an online automated system. These checks can regularly be run, at an interval that suits your business to provide accurate and up to date information.
Our system has an easy to read traffic light reporting system that will highlight areas of concern for you.
If you’d like to learn more about this or how else we can help you with your fleet management needs then get in touch on 01722 322 888.
Enjoyed this article? Read more of our latest blogs below:
- Understanding Fleet Telematics
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