Government licence check hypocrisy
Thousands of civil servants could be driving on Government business illegally because only one Whitehall department is following best practice on licence checking, according to an investigation by BusinessCar magazine under the Freedom of Information Act.
The results show the Government could be sending unlicenced and uninsured drivers onto UK roads as well as falling short in its duty of care obligations.
BusinessCar requested the policies and frequency of licence checks from 20 Government departments and agencies, for both company cars and employees using their own vehicles, otherwise known as ‘grey fleet’ drivers.
The worrying results revealed that just one Government agency used the DVLA’s database to check licences – the DVLA itself – while all other Government departments are satisfied with only a visual check by internal managers, a system acknowledged by experts as open to abuse. And of the 20 other departments investigated by BusinessCar, only seven check the licences of all their staff driving on work business.
Figures from the Licence Bureau, one of the UK’s largest driving licence verification services, show one check in every 200 reveal a licence that isn’t valid.
“Licence checking is the most basic of actions to protect both your staff and the general public at large,” said BusinessCar Editor-in-Chief Tritan Young. “It’s amazing that Government departments are not required to follow what is essentially their own advice.
“My hope is that by BusinessCar conducting this research, it encourages a few more businesses to carry out more frequent checks and keep their unlicenced drivers off the road.”
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