One of the essential practices that are part of employing drivers to your transport company fleet is checking the legitimacy of their driving licenses. Other companies too where driving is an essential part of the work even if transportation is not the chief business, there should be definitely a system to check employees’ driving licences.
This more than anything else should help you decide on the terms of employment. However, checking their licenses is no mean feat.
Methods to check the driving licensed of your employees:
Here are methods on how to check employees’ driving licences to make good choices a company
- Original Driving License Checks: This is always the first step. It is the most common way and certainly a robust method. Check the license during the induction process. Examine it carefully for any discrepancies and then photocopy it. Get the photocopy signed and countersigned by the employee with the date. Always keep this copy on record. Make sure to repeat these checks every year.
- DVLA Checks: This is the most comprehensive manner of checking for the legitimacy of driving license. This means contacting the DVLA personally and creating a system where they can provide details of your employee’s driving license, and you can crosscheck. The only possible barrier is that the employee’s consent is required for the content of the DVLA is covered by the Data Protection Act. The DVLA can provide a one to the three-year system through which you can get unlimited access to your employee’s driving records.
- Declaration from Driver: It is extremely important for the employer to demand that the driver declares the following:
- Driving offences linked with drugs or alcohol
- Offenses linked to reckless driving
- Other related driving offenses
- Reparative Actions: Having an offense to a driver’s record should not always disqualify them for service. There are a number of ways the driver can prove to be capable through reparative actions like:
- Special driver training
- Insurance premium loading
- Disciplinary actions
- Temporary withdrawal of access or use of a company vehicle
Sometimes conducting these checks are not within the capabilities of the company. Your business may not wish to spend resources on this. In such cases, you can always outsource to external independent checking agencies that are easily accessible online.
Don’t think that as an employer you are exploiting your employee if you are asking him/her for an authentic driving licence. It’s your duty to employ a genuine employee with a proper driving licence and who has all along good track record of driving.
