Checking your drivers’ licences

Checking your drivers’ licences is important, as you have to ensure that your drivers are legally to drive. So, what should you check and how often?

It is recommended that you conduct checks on your drivers’ licences at least every three months. There are 7 checks you need to conduct, these are:

• Name, Photo and Expiration
• Driver number
• Counterpart
• Correct Address
• Penalty points
• Entitlement
• DCPC Qualification

Name, Photo and Expiration
The first thing to check is that the photo and the name are correct, and that the photo is not expired or expiring soon (that's the relevance of the expiration date on front of the licence). It’s advisable to inform your drivers (and keep an official, signed, record of the discussion) if their licences are going to expire in the following three months and to bring forward the date of your next check to coincide.

Driver Number
You should check the driver number on both parts of the licence.

Counterpart
You need to see the counterpart, so that you can check that the details on the counterpart are the same as on the card. At the end of the driver number (on the card) will be (usually 2) digits that correspond with the issue number of the counterpart. If the numbers don’t match up, you have been given either an incorrect card or counterpart. It is important you check this, as drivers may give you an incorrect counterpart in an attempt to cover up convictions or for other reasons. 

Correct Address
Their address needs to be checked against your current records to ensure it is up-to-date, as failure to inform DVLA of a change of address is a criminal offence. It is a good idea to get the drivers to complete a new emergency contact form at some point prior to these checks and compare the address given. It is a criminal offence to fail to update a driving licence and there are very many other reasons why it is a bad idea, you should enforce this with disciplinary procedures.

 Penalty Points
Look for any penalty points that the driver has not informed you of. If you find any notifiable convictions you must inform the Traffic Commissioner and if there are anymore than 6 points on the driver’s licence, it is recommended that you check their licence monthly.

Entitlement
You need to ensure that your drivers have the correct entitlement to drive the vehicles that they drive and that the entitlement is in date. Here LGV entitlement expiration may signal date of next medical. Again it’s advisable to inform your drivers (and keep an official, signed, record of the discussion) if their licences are going to expire in the following three months and to bring forward the date of your next check to coincide

Driver CPC Qualification
If a driver acquired their goods vehicle vocational entitlement (C1, C, CE: whichever came first) after 10^th September 2009 they must carry a Driver Qualification Card (DQC), but if they acquired it before that date then they have acquired rights. In the latter case they have until 10th September 2014 to acquire their DCPC qualification. If the driver does have a DQC, you should check the information on the card (name, address, driver number and expiry date) and how many days training have been received so far in the current period.

After you have performed these checks, you should photocopy the front and back of the driving licence (both parts) and the DQC (if applicable).

For more help, contact us or consider Transport Manager Refresher training.