The Impact of Drivers not Sharing Licence Points with Their Employer

18 March 2016

Would you be surprised to learn that only one in nine drivers would tell their employer if they received penalty points on their licence whilst driving?

Only 13% of motorists surveyed by RAC insurance would inform their employer of their penalty points.

A survey by RAC Insurance has revealed just that. The survey also uncovered that nearly a fifth (18%) of all motorists wouldn’t inform their insurer if they acquired penalty points whilst driving, and 25% of motorists surveyed who already had penalty points, didn’t inform any organisation when they received them despite the fact that drivers are obliged to inform these organisations.

Why Drivers aren’t Declaring

In many cases, especially within fleets, employers would require their drivers to have a full, clean driving licence. Therefore, drivers may try to hide any motoring convictions in order to keep their job or get a job in the first place. However, it is essential as an employer that you are aware of the motoring convictions of your employees to avoid any complications should they get into an accident. Data has shown that one in 14 UK Drivers has points on their licence

Implications of Not Declaring

Undeclared penalty points could mean that a driver’s insurance policy is void and they could receive hefty penalties from the police. Should they be involved in a road collision or other incident they could potentially face further penalty points, unlimited fines and be disqualified from driving altogether, not to mention the risk to other law-abiding drivers.

RAC Insurance Director Mark Godfrey said, “Our research points to one of two likely scenarios: either motorists are simply forgetting to inform the relevant authorities when they receive points, or they are intentionally not telling them in order to keep their insurance premium lower.

“In either case, the result is hundreds of thousands of drivers on our roads who are effectively uninsured by default. This could have very serious, and indeed costly implications should they be involved in an accident and could cause no end of problems should they need to make an insurance claim themselves.”

Legal Obligations

Employers have an obligation to make sure that anyone employed who is required to drive as part of their employment, whether in a driving role or simply driving to a meeting with a customer or even between sites on company business, has a valid licence and all relevant qualifications (such as Driver CPC for LGV and PCV drivers). Organisations should take a proactive approach to regularly checking drivers licences as there could be serious implications for the company if a driver is involved in an accident on the road and is found to be driving on company business where the relevant checks haven’t taken place.

This is made easy with dh Licence Check, which is a fully accredited DVLA licence checking bureau that allows businesses to check the status of their drivers in real time. So regardless of whether your employees reveal their full driving history with you, you’ll always be in the know.