Statistics compiled from the thousands of drivers whose details are checked through the company’s Licence Link licence checking software show that the average number of points per women is 0.095 compared to 0.579 for men.

If you exclude drivers who have zero points from the research, the picture stays consistent – men have an average of 3.20 points while women carry 0.53.

Neville Briggs, managing director at CFC, said that the research was broadly consistent with other statistics that showed women drivers represented a lower risk than men, although the difference appeared to be more marked among fleet drivers.

He said: “Women drivers are generally held to be involved in fewer road incidents than men, something that is most easily seen in their lower insurance costs.

“However, the difference among the company car and van drivers seen in our sample is even more exaggerated than among the public at large. Male drivers do appear to represent a much more significant risk management issue for employers.

“The finding does suggest that fleet managers should consider the issue of gender when looking at risk management policies in exactly the same way as other known risk factors such as age although, clearly, there may difficulties in implementing this.”

Free to adopt, Licence Link is designed to help employers simplify the routine task of regularly checking car and van driver licence information through a web based system - made essential by the introduction of risk management legislation.