Protecting people on the move
The UK's number one supplier of Driver Licence validation services
The Licence Bureau was the first to develop a unique driving licence verification system in co‐operation with the DVLA based on a three year declaration form. This entitles us, with your drivers permission/declaration, to access their DVLA driver record at any time during the three year term with no further recourse to the driver. Our service complies with the requirements of the DVLA and the Data Protection Act providing our customers with clear concise and meaningful reports.
We offer you both peace of mind and the ability to meet your statutory obligations from a position of strength through knowledge. We understand that we must make life simpler for our customers, so we provide reports in a number of formats from paper through to pdf documents, excel spreadsheets and electronic feeds.
We continue to innovate and provide our clients with improvements in service. We have recently added a high performance website for all of our clients so that they can view their Drivers easily, quickly and securely without having to look through a report.
We have introduced an online declaration form so the drivers can enter their details online and send the resulting form via freepost to our offices. We continually strive to increase our effectiveness and reduce any administration overheads to you, whilst still allowing you to maintain control.
We understand that your drivers may be reluctant to give their details out to an external organisation, given the increasing prevalence of identity theft. View our quality and security information to find out more about the precautions we take.
This client had created a multi-functional back office dealing with all non-operational matters under the HR Manager. Fleet size was approximately 45 vehicles.
Fleet Management was therefore the responsibility of the HR Manager and vehicles had been sourced from a variety of sources.
Until a briefing on the Health & Safety Guidelines on managing work related road safety attended by the HR Manager, driving licences had been checked on an ad hoc basis when new starters collected their new car on joining.
Solution The Licence Bureau briefed the HR Team on their responsibilities and provided the necessary reference material to support the process. The Licence Bureau website provides advice and guidance on driving licences and details the entitlements of all categories of licence.
The site contains useful links to relevant information sources on other driving matters.
The client operates a department staffed by HR specialists rather than fleet or vehicle management experts. There was a knowledge gap but equally as relevant was the lack of resources to manage effectively the manual process of periodically checking all the employee’s driving licences on a regular basis.
Solution Outsourcing the process of licence checking to The Licence Bureau removed the time consuming mechanical demands of a manual licence checking process that required original licences to be collected and inspected from a large number of drivers. Once the client provided us with a list of the names, addresses and contact details for all their drivers the Licence Bureau took responsibility for obtaining the declaration of the drivers for a check of their records with the DVLA.
Once declaration was obtained the up-to-date driver record was obtained and reports generated for the benefit of the client.
Once the initial check had been carried out the data was provided in an accessible format to the client and it was clear which drivers were most ‘at risk’ in terms of their accumulated points.
The Licence Bureau operates a system of regular checks based on the current points tally for each driver:
Under 4 Points: Annual Check 4-7 Points: 6-Monthly Check 8+ Points: 3-Monthly Check
These are only our recommendations; we can generate checks at whatever intervals the customer wishes.
Drivers are automatically flagged for a recheck by our system according to their points total. Once the client has confirmed that the drivers due for recheck are still employed and still driving on their behalf the Licence Bureau processes the request for data with the DVLA and updates the clients records.
On this occasion the licence was checked by the line manager although no copy of the licence was systematically retained on file and no subsequent checks were undertaken for the remainder of that employee’s time with the Company.
The HR Manager was unaware of the liabilities and lacked the knowledge and resources to manage a robust licence checking regime of initial and periodic licence checks by knowledgeable individuals.
Solution The Licence Bureau reporting system highlights those drivers with no driving licence, with a provisional licence only, that are disqualified, have had their licence revoked or have an expired LGV/PCV. Our reports highlight any LGV/PCV licences that need renewal in the next twelve months.
If a question arises over whether a driver can drive a vehicle other than a motor car, the resources available on the Licence Bureau website make it easy to check the categories of licence and the entitlements, as well as any restrictions in terms of eyesight held by the driver.
The Licence Bureau System is multi-tiered and flexible so this client’s account was structured to mirror their internal Group structure with a holding company and 5 subsidiaries.
The Licence Bureau recommends that whilst it is possible to divide a driver fleet at any level, by cost centre, by geographical location or to match any other internal divisions,these divisions should be created at a level where there is very little internal movement of staff to minimise ongoing administration.
Geographical Distribution of the client’s subsidiaries was not a factor for the Licence Bureau as we are able to reflect multiple locations within our client’s account structure. In this case each location had a key account manager to whom we directed the reports for their location whilst a consolidated report that brought together all the data from all the locations was routinely provided for the Group MD.
Our new web portal allows the Group MD to view all driver records securely online whilst individual depot managers have limited access to their own driver records only.
PCV & LGV licence holders are required to renew their licence when they reach the age of 45 and every five years thereafter. Any fleet with PCV or LGV licence holders automatically triggers a unique Licence Bureau report that shows which drivers are due to renew their licences in the next twelve months, on a month by month basis. The report is updated each month on a rolling basis.
Any licence holders who have not renewed their licence by the due date are treated as disqualified for the purposes of the licence checking exercise and immediate contact is made with the client contact to appraise them of the situation.
This reflects the status of many companies who have multiple locations but also which have a number of different types of drivers. Drivers that simply drive the company’s vans; to individuals who have been issued company cars; through to those who drive their own car on company business.
This client experienced regular and ongoing issues obtaining sight of original driving licences with their employees being scattered across the country and their being no effective system to identify outstanding checks. Company policy required six monthly checks but the cycle was never complete and some manual checks had been outstanding for 2 years.The client’s employees are located across the UK working from offices and home.
Solution: As production of an original licence on a regular basis was the major issue in this case we had to deal with two issues, existing staff and new starters.
We took immediate steps to ensure that all new starters were enrolled on our system by providing the HR Department with the necessary declaration forms to enable new drivers to be captured onto our database and their permission obtained for licence checks as part of the process of joining the company.
Existing drivers were canvassed on two occasions and by mail or e-mail (as appropriate). Outstanding drivers were clearly identified to the client at the end of the process with the very few unresponsive drivers passed on by the client for remedial action by line managers.
Second and subsequent checks took place without the involvement of the drivers and the whole process took three weeks from start to finish.
This client allocated fleet costs and reported on fleet management issues by cost centre rather than geographical locations and this was a major headache for them when assimilating driving licence data from the photocopy licences hitherto obtained as part of the checking process.The need to input data into a proprietary spreadsheet was time consuming and problematical to maintain.
Solution: The Licence Bureau reporting structure resembles a series of empty boxes in a stack as high as it is wide.
All that is required is for the client to tell us how to labels the boxes. Our reports can mirror accommodate the structure of any of our clients so long as they are able to tell us which driver belongs in which ‘box’ to start with.
Obtaining driver data directly and electronically, or viewing the data online removed the need to input any data or to maintain internal records of driving licence data and simplified the process of assimilating the data in to wider reports.
One division of this client’s group had opted to offer their drivers a cash alternative and this had become the norm for all new starters.The driving licences of these cash takers had not been inspected as it had been understood (wrongly) at the time of the move to cash alternatives that the company had no responsibility as it did not own the cars being driven.
Solution: The Licence Bureau wrote to all the drivers and explained the Company responsibilities under s.87 (2) Road Traffic Act 1988 and obtained signed declaration forms from all the drivers.
They were set up as a separate cost centre at the client’s request and were clearly identified on the client’s webpage and all reports as cash takers.
The Directors employ 15 drivers all of whom drive company vehicles. A system of keeping track of fixed penalty notices led the Directors to believe that they would be aware of all endorseable infringements incurred and could therefore be confident that their drivers were low risk. No FP Notices had been received for over a year.
Copy licences were requested each year and 14 of 15 drivers complied, the only errant driver always had plausible excuses for non-compliance and was never followed up.
Solution This particular client enrolled with the Licence Bureau after the errant driver was stopped driving his company vehicle over the Christmas Holiday Period. At this time he was found to be already disqualified for a Drink/Drive offence. He had been arrested originally driving a private vehicle and had not disclosed his offence and disqualification to the Company.
A combination of factors had led to this man being allowed to slip through the net. The Directors felt they knew and could trust all the drivers and the demands on the resources of the small business were such that the Directors did not prioritise licence checking and delegated responsibility to an administrator, who was unaware of the potential liability.
The MD was notified he would be prosecuted for offences under S.87(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Once your drivers are enrolled with the Licence Bureau our system will automatically generate the appropriate re-checks in a timely manner leaving the small fleet operator to focus on core issues with running their fleet and their business.
This client needed to employ a replacement driver and was approached by a Polish National. The client had no means of knowing if the licence was valid or genuine.
Solution The Licence Bureau is in touch with countries around the world to verify the status of drivers.
We will advise clients on what they can and cannot expect and steps we can take to validate that persons entitlement to drive in not only their own country but in the UK as well.
This client is a large and established leasing company and wanted to introduce a generic risk management product that included Licence Checking, Online Risk Assessments, Driver Training and Accident Management.
In order to do so quickly and effectively and without increasing internal headcount or revenue costs the client was looking for a delivery partner able to integrate data seamlessly with their established in-house reporting structure
Solution The Licence Bureau met with the IT Department for the client and agreed protocols that allow data to be transferred electronically in XML format. The client is able to assimilate the data in to their own reports automatically and at negligible cost.
The client enjoys strong brand recognition and is keen to maintain this position
Solution Assimilating the data electronically in to our client’s system meant that the integrity of their brand was maintained. Ultimately the client decided to acknowledge their relationship with The Licence Bureau for positive commercial reasons but the option was there to white label entirely.
The new Web Solution for Licence Bureau clients provides a degree of branding for all Lease Company clients, even those who do not wish to entirely white label the service. Their customer’s access their driver’s data via a webpage branded with the clients logo so that the positive contribution of the Lease Company to their ‘Duty of Care’ is reinforced at all times.
This client wanted to be included in the billing process and to re-invoice their customer as part of larger fleet management bill.
Solution In this case we bill the client who will re-invoice their customer but we can invoice customers directly and reconcile the client’s earnings from each transaction with them on a monthly basis. Both methods of billing have their merits and have proved equally popular.
We will consider alternative proposals.
