Managing a fleet is potentially hazardous. Safety legislation is getting tougher and tougher all the time, and as such, employers can face fines for serious health and safety offences, especially if they cannot demonstrate rigorous internal safety procedures if an accident occurs.

Regular licence checks are crucial for organisations of all sizes to ensure ongoing compliance. You should have procedures in place and written down for employee reference. 

Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer to the frequency of driver licence checks and it’s one of the most frequent questions we get asked here at Logico, but we can guide you in the right direction by going back to the basics and look at what it is we're trying to achieve by conducting a check on a driving licence. 

Initially, you should consider the following:

• When did you last check your employees’ driving licences?

• Do you have a policy for regularly checking licences?

• Have you identified “At Risk” drivers?

• Would you know if any drivers lost their driving licence through totting up points, drink and drug offences, dangerous driving, or illness?

• Do those who drive LGV or PCV vehicles still have a valid licence entitlement to do so?

So, what exactly is a licence check?

Our driving licences carry information regarding our driving record, such as our current points, disqualifications and of course which vehicles we are licensed and eligible to drive. 

A licence check performed by an organisation on an employee's licence will return all of this data, enabling a view of driver risk. The results of the check may be an indicator as to whether additional training should be put in place for certain "high risk" drivers, or worse, may be the only way of knowing if a driver has had their licence revoked and shouldn't be driving for the company. 

Without periodic licence checks, businesses are left at risk of prosecution and fines if an employee driving on company business is involved in an accident. 

This part is important: A single licence check at the beginning of employment isn't enough. 

Frequency of checks

Relying on employees to disclose when they have received penalty points, convictions or disqualifications poses a huge risk - employees that are keen to let their employer know of changes to their driver records are few and far between.

Many employees, intentionally or otherwise, will not update their employer about changes to a licence, particularly if acquiring points could put aspects of an employee's job at risk. The method of relying on an employee to provide you with vital licence information is not a viable process to support licence checking. 

Losing your driving licence may only be one offence away - driving whilst using a mobile phone, for example, could cost a driver six points - this may be the tipping point for many of your employees, leaving them disqualified from driving and potentially a massive risk to your business. 

As we work on a risk-based management approach, we carry out the checks every 3 months.

How can you check?

Here at Logico, we provide Driver Licence Checking which will provide you with an instant summary of drivers, vehicles and risk, identifying high risk drivers and even provide you with a risk score.  Whether you want to check all of your drivers every 3 months, or you want to check drivers that are flagged as ‘high risk’ more often, our service can help.

For more information on our driving licence checking service, simply visit our dedicated web page at https://www.teamlogico.co.uk/driver-licence-checking or contact us at hello@teamlogico.co.uk