Driving Licence
The first of photo-card style driving licences were introduced in July 1998, the photo-card section of the licence is only valid for 10 years and will need to be updated accordingly with a current photo of yourself. The holder must renew their photo-card before their current one expires.The DVLA will issue a reminder. Renewal is necessary to avoid a £1000 fine. The expiry date of the card can be found on the front of the card marked under section 4b.
The paper counterpart of the licence will be abolished in January 2015. A driver will be able to view their disqualifications and penalty points on-line through a government website www.veiwdrivingrecord.service.gov.uk Once on the site you will need to input your licence number, National Insurance number and the post code on your licence. Alternatively you can request what information is held being by the DVLA by post , a form which can be downloaded from their website needs to be sent or if you do not have on-line access you will need to write to them. The DVLA will charge £5.00 for this information to be sent.
With the counterpart being abolished it will be harder for fleet operators to carry out checks.
The licence can be renewed at main U.K post offices and also on-line.
There will be a charge for the updating of the photo-card which is currently £17.50. Businesses will need to review this to make sure their drivers are legally entitled to drive on business, this could affect their insurance. All businesses should at least keep a record of their employee's licences and expiry dates. Using an on-line checking service is the only way to insure things are monitored correctly.
Why should we check Drivers' Licences?
Almost one in four driving licences may be invalid, according to joint research carried out by the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association (BVRLA) and the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
How can you be sure that your drivers are legally permitted to drive, as well as being entitled to operate the class of vehicle assigned to them? And how can you keep track of how many penalty points they currently have?
You have a copy of each driver's licence on file. This solves the problem. Doesn't it?.....
The answer is NO....
The copy could be an old one. Even if you see what seems like the original licence, it could be a duplicate of an old licence. And even if the licence you inspected was genuine, an offence may have been committed since the copy was taken, which you know nothing about. The average company takes a copy of it's drivers' licences once a year, so it's easy to imagine how many incidents can take place between inspections.
By not checking a licence correctly you also risk invalidating the companies insurance policy.