Driving licence checks carried out by fleets have risen 30.4% year-on-year, according to Freedom of Information figures seen by the Association for Driving Licence Verification (ADLV).

The ADLV expects this growth to continue throughout 2016 and well into 2017, with the total number of checks rising from the current level of 2.35 million to a projected three million by March 2017.

It accredits the rise to more frequent online checking of data, coupled with a broader use of other related datasets to promote ‘know your driver’ risk reduction strategies.

Richard Payne Gill, deputy chairman of the ADLV, said: "The growth in volume is highly encouraging as it reflects that electronic checking, through a fully-managed service from a professional third party, has now become a ‘best practice’ with full reporting and audit trails included.

"It is also a sign that the frequency of checking has increased too as fleet managers seek to both boost compliance certainty and reduce the risk from misuse and fraud.

"We are seeing quarterly checks becoming the norm.

“There has also been a rise in the breadth of data now that is being combined with licence information, and we are also confident that other datasets are likely to become available too including tacho and CPC data for the UK haulier sector.

"The integration of all this data will see a transformation on the overall professionalism of the sector with the ultimate benefits including major efficiency gains for fleet operators and a marked boost for road safety.”