Although drivers will incur fines and penalty points for driving offences while disqualified, if the employee is on business at the time, those directly responsible for the vehicles are also punished. This means a fleet manager will get points and a fine if one of their drivers is convicted of certain offences.
Tony Round, head of sales for the Licence Bureau, has warned delegates that as more drivers were being convicted of speeding offences, there was an increasing danger of employees driving while banned.
He said: ‘The person responsible for checking the licence is also the person responsible for getting penalty points. At one company, someone has got six points on his licence because two of his drivers didn’t have a licence.’
The rules, contained within the Road Traffic Act 1988, are much more likely to affect fleet managers as drivers incur rocketing numbers of penalties.
Round said that in Northamptonshire alone, 4,000 drivers were convicted of speeding in 1999, but that had rocketed to 104,000 by 2001 and was now averaging 85,000 a year.
He added: ‘The number of disqualified drivers is creeping up, so checking licences is increasingly important.’
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