Company car and van drivers “unaware” of 10 year licence rule, warns CFC

Company car and van drivers appear to be unaware of the fact that their photocard driving licence requires renewal every 10 years, according to fleet software market leader CFC Solutions.

The company says that, because the photocard was introduced in 1998, early adopters of the licence need to be aware now of the fact but that most identified by CFC’s Licence Link checking software did not know that they needed to reapply.

While drivers can legally continue to drive when their photocard has expired, they face a potential charge of failing to renew their licence which can lead to a £1,000 fine although CFC is unaware of reports of this happening.

Neville Briggs, managing director at CFC, said: “Because of the driver’s photo on the card, there is a 10 year limit to the licence to take account of aging and other physical changes but many drivers and fleet managers are unaware.

“The DVLA does issue reminders to drivers that their licence will soon need renewing but if the individual has moved address or simply ignored the reminder, which in our experience is common, there could be a problem.”

The need to renew photocard licences is one of the issues that is highlighted using CFC’s Licence Link software, which checks fleet car and van driver licences directly against the DVLA database.

Briggs continued: “We have seen numerous examples of this happening through Licence Link and, as the 10 year deadline approaches for more and more drivers, it would appear to be a problem that can only get worse.”

Licence Link is designed to help all employers simplify the routine task of regularly checking car and van driver licence information through a web based system - something made essential by the recent introduction of risk management legislation.

Once basic driving licence information is entered onto Licence Link, fleet managers can choose how often automatic checks are made with the DVLA database – for example, annually for low mileage drivers or more often for high mileage, high risk employees.

Risk summary reports will automatically group drivers into different levels of risk group – for example, those with 1-3, 4-7, 8-12 and 12 plus points, and Licence Link can be set up so that those with higher numbers of points are checked more often.

Automatic alerts are sent to the fleet manager if the DVLA checks show changes to endorsements, the categories of vehicle that an employee is allowed to drive or if there are critical licence events such as disqualification or a photo card expiring.

Further features in Licence Link include the ability to upload and store document scans against each driver record, such as an image of each driver’s licence and driver declarations. These files are held online and encrypted for security purposes.

Access to Licence Link is via a credit payment scheme. To run checks, a company buys credits in advance and as each licence check is made, the system displays the credits remaining, providing a constant balance reminder for the fleet manager.