Fleets ‘misusing’ DVLA driving licence service

By Fleet News
|
20 May 2015

Fleets are confused about the ways they can check employees’ driving licences when paper counterpart is abolished from June 8, claims LicenceCheck.

It follows the introduction of the View My Driving Licence service, an online service for individuals to access their driving licence.

The DVLA has repeatedly stated that this is for driver use only and that any use of the service by third parties, including an employer, is an offence under the Data Protection Act. It has said it will investigate and pursue any case where unauthorised access has occurred.

However, Richard Brown, managing director of LicenceCheck, warns the industry that many fleet managers are confused about the ways in which they can legally check driving licences, and have been using this View my Driver Licence system.

“It’s an incredibly confusing time for companies who need to manage their fleet drivers within the confines of the law,” he said.

“Some of the fleets we have spoken to have been told it’s okay to use this service if they’ve obtained a written mandate from the employee concerned.

“But this conflicted with our understanding, so we asked the DVLA and received a definitive response stating that is ‘intended for drivers to check their own records only, and should not be used by third parties to access driver records’.”

He continued: “It’s unclear what trouble businesses would get in if caught, but it would be apparent who was guilty.

“If a company accesses a number of employee’s records using View my Driver Licence through one computer, the IP address for each will be identical.”

In time for the paper counterpart abolition on June 8, the DVLA is launching a solution for fleets called the Share Driver Licence, which allows employers and other third parties to check a driver’s licence by using a unique single use code issued to the driver.

Author: Fleet News

Comments (19)

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Comments

Sue McGuigan - 20/05/2015 11:10

When is the DVLA launching the 'share driver licence' for fleets?
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- Sharon Rowan - 20/05/2015 11:28
  
  I was on the site earlier today so I could advise our staff, seems to be up and running https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence option to view or create code to share.
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Robberg - 20/05/2015 11:28

I use the View My Driving Licence for our drivers and they are present at the time and click the box agreeing consent so what's the problem? I have over 600 drivers so I'm not paying any company to do this and faff about with mandates. I'll be interested to see what the Share Driver Licence is, but considering that there is less than 3 weeks to go, I won't be holding my breath.
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Caroline pearce - 20/05/2015 11:45

There is also great confusion in Northern Ireland where the counterpart will NOT be abolished in June. The government would need to make it clear that the abolition is for UK Licences only. Our van rental customers all assume they dont need to show us their counterpart and its difficult to convince them otherwise.
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- Bianca Castafiore - 20/05/2015 11:58
  
  I think you mean the government should make it clear that the abolition is for GB licences only, not UK. GB does not include NI. UK includes England, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland. If this is what you mean, I agree totally. Whenever any changes like this come into force, the government department concerned always seems to cause more confusion.
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Jon Waite - 20/05/2015 11:54

The problem only occurs when a company uses the information they have on file within their HR to create the code in the first place to allow a check to take place. You need your driving licence No. NI No. and postcode, we have all this on every driver already but if we went on to create the code we would be breaking the data protection act. However if our drivers create the code and share it with us we ARE allowed to view their details.
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David Millward Bridge Insurance - 20/05/2015 11:54

Interesting from our perspective as an insurance broker. A further complication is that on fleets it will not only be employees allowed to drive but often family members of employees so how would a fleet operator obtain permission from those non employees to use Share Driver Licence ??
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- Sage & Onion - 20/05/2015 12:20
  
  I would treat them the same way as an employee. If they want to drive our employees car then they have to be authorised to drive in the same way and go through the same licence checks.
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Sage & Onion - 20/05/2015 12:16

I've just tried out the system (using myself as the object) and it works! And I even tested it by trying to use the same code twice and it wouldn't let me see it a second time. I think DVLA should have done a lot more about making it common knowledge that the "Share My Driving Record" was now active because with the 8th June deadline now only a couple of weeks or so away they are leaving the fleet industry in a very nervous position. And I agree with Robberg in that if the employee is with you, or even using your PC and IP address, and is giving permission then what is the issue? The issue I think has more to do with licence checking bureaus seeing this service as a threat and using the ICO as a tool to frighten fleets away from using it. In practice, the Share My Driving Record will be very useful for conducting emergency checks that are needed immediately, but for general scheduled checks a licence bureau is the best route to manage these. With a large number of drivers it will require additional staffing resource to manage individual checks and it would probably be cheaper to employ a licence bureau. But I still don't agree with the scare tactics. And if a Fleet manager is faced with a conflicting decision on whether to contravene Duty Of Care or the Data Protection Act, which one do you think they are going to sacrifice first? Of course the right (or legal) answer is neither but we live in a real world with real pressures. And my own personal view is that if an individual takes a job that requires them to drive then they should automatically relinquish any rights under the DPA where driving licence records are involved. To me that's just common sense.
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- Christopher Smith - 20/05/2015 12:21
  
  Agreed - that's quite frankly awful signposting. The fact a driver has to log in to see their record to even know they can share it really isn't great.
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- eric.bristow@hobartuk.com - 20/05/2015 13:29
  
  I also agree regarding the driver being present. Surely I have a duty to ensure that before I put someone behind the wheel of a 2.5 tonne vehicle, they are licensed to drive it. We carry out the normal license checks periodically through the year but this is after the mandate has been completed and returned. This can take a number of weeks to complete and the license checking company to have the result available.
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Sage & Onion - 20/05/2015 12:25

Just to add to this, it's interesting to see that some Driver CPC training companies may still be asking for employees to bring their full driving licence, including paper counterpart, with them to the course even though the course takes place after 8th June. I hope this is just a bit of an administrative oversight on the joining instructions otherwise if the training companies aren't up to speed with the new licence system then I can see quite a few drivers having their training day rejected due to not presenting all licence documentation.
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- Dan Shield - 20/05/2015 13:59
  
  Nice to see some are still asking, the one I attended in February tried to tell me that the Paper Counterpart had expired in January.....................
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Micky Jackson - 20/05/2015 12:30

As an employee I am more than happy that the Company I work for could have simple access to my license details, mandate or no mandate, if I'm not driving within the confines of the law and my employer notices something I would prefer to be notified and to be kept covered by insurance and employer guidelines. I think its a case of if you're not doing anything wrong you need not be worried, why so much fuss ?
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- Sage & Onion - 20/05/2015 12:38
  
  I'm sure the majority of employees feel the same way (I know I do!). But its surprising how many drivers wouldn't object to their employer checking their record without any consent, but they do object to their personal and licence details being handed to a third party (ie a licence bureau) to check, even though the bureaus are governed by the DPA.
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Phil Clifford - 20/05/2015 12:38

If the DVLA are intending consequences for organisations based on repeated use of the service from a single IP address - we could have a problem. We provide fixed computers in our mess rooms to enable staff to use our self-service HR system whilst at work and they will be able to use it to also check their licence and generate the share code. How will the DVLA deal with that I wonder?
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- eric.bristow@hobartuk.com - 20/05/2015 13:31
  
  Hi Phil I think from the comments on the .GOV website, there isn't any plans to restrict IP addresses to a number of applications - for the very reason you have raised
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Edward Handley - 20/05/2015 13:24

The whole situation with regard to licence checking has become nonsensical. Employers, or indeed anyone who permits a driver to use a vehicle registered to them such as hire companies, are legally obliged to ensure that the driver is properly licensed, and insured to drive the vehicle. If details of convictions, driving bans, etc., are not made available to the employer the whole situation becomes a farce. I cannot understand why it has to be made so complicated in the name of data protection. When I hire a car in Europe they just look at my photocard and give me the car - why do we have to have such a tortuous system?
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Simon Hird - 20/05/2015 13:26

What happens if a number of people use the company computers and therefore its IP address to access their own licence details?
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Nick Simpson - 20/05/2015 13:27

Prosecute people for not using a system that they haven't even completed yet? How does that work then? Anyone got the phone number for DVLA ? Try ringing it (if you can locate it) and let me know how you get on !!!
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Codge - 20/05/2015 13:37

I think the DVLA have used very many sledgehammers to crack a very small nut! What a palaver just to check our driver's are allowed to drive. If we don't check and let them drive that would be wrong so we are stuck with all this work because of DVLA's systems! Its a joke.
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Alan Woodison - 20/05/2015 13:45

Last minute .com is not acceptable for busy fleet managers and company directors. The DVLA are quick to identify fault elsewhere, they need to look closer to home.
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Darren Hill - 20/05/2015 14:28

I've just checked my own licence, works perfect. However this doesn't stop illegal access. All you need is the drivers licence number. their national insurance number and their home post code. So Mr/Mrs Fleet manager asks a new driver for a copy of their photo licence before they hand over a car, nothing hard or out of the ordinary there, that's parts 1 & 3 obtained , then they ask payroll or HR for the drivers NI number as its needed for the annual P11D report that the Fleet Manager runs each year for the Finance department again nothing odd , part 2 and set complete. On to the website enter the details obtained very easily, pop in the 3 sets of information needed, check their licence, even create your own code to use at a later date. So how is this any different than using VMDL
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Nick B - 20/05/2015 14:45

It's a good way forward and will save some trees. Unfortunately like all electronic systems it is open to misuse and fraud. The basic data needed to gain entry to the driver records is far too simple.
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Ian Gallagher - 21/05/2015 09:41

the information above regarding VDR is correct, what is also correct is that an employer is not able to have the driver sign a mandate which allows them access to data via VDR - a PDF from the driver is acceptable and can be stored by the employer. Data Protection rules should not be used as an excuse for not providing legal details, details which ensure road safety, compliance with operator licensing and s88 RTA . Ultimately a PDF can be checked using SML - Overall not a suitable alternative given the time the Agency has had to put the system in place but one we will need to work with. pressure also needs to be put on the agency to migrate D9 driver information across to this system as this cant be seen. the SML went into public beta on the 19th May.
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Gauleiter - 22/05/2015 10:38

I think the original idea of this service was that the driver would log into the DVLA website using Gov.verify system, generate a one time access code and then pass that on to the interested third party. The Gov.verify system is an identity assurance system whereby after registration, a unique user name is produced and then a second one off code is generated via mobile phone, so that the user can log in to any government website and they can be pretty certain that the user is who he says he is. Perhaps eventually, view my driver licence will use the same set up, stopping third parties having direct access to a driver's record.
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Disgruntled - 03/06/2015 11:46

So how do the Government suggest we check the drivers licence from now on without having to pay additional companies for the service?
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