New body launched to verify driving licence data for fleets

By Gareth Roberts
|
24 September 2014

A new trade body, the Association for Driving Licence Verification (ADLV) has been launched to provide fleet users with responsible and secure access to DVLA driving licence data.

Formed in part as a response to the upcoming abolition of the current driving licence paper counterpart, members of this new association are already established providers of driver licence checking through the DVLA’s Electronic Driver Entitlement Checking Service .

The data offered by the ADLV member companies will formalise this grouping and provide employers with a new alternative for validating the driver entitlement data for their employees.

To ensure that the highest quality standards are maintained, the ADLV will conduct regular audits of members and operate within a strict code of conduct to ensure that the DVLA’s data assurance standards are met.

Working on an online batch e-processing basis, subject to consent from the licence holder, ADLV members will supply customers with full licence details, have the ability to schedule data re-checks and monitor licence holders dependent on updated driver risk profiles.

Users of the service also have access to management information and reporting across a whole fleet.

As a batch service for fleets, the ADLV’s system will be in contrast to the DVLA’s proposed SMDR (Share My Driver Record) facility, a single-query ad-hoc service that requires each driver to register their consent every time their employer wishes to access their driver record from the DVLA.

The newly appointed chairman of ADLV, Malcolm Maycock, said: “There is a willingness by all the main groups involved to support the formation of a trade association that delivers a best practice approach to driving licence verification for fleets.

“The ADLV addresses these needs fully and has recruited the most experienced and professional organisations in the business to deliver the service.

“Indeed, the ADLV members are very much a proven and trusted quantity.

“Looking forward, the ADLV is currently working closely with the DVLA on new batch and real-time solutions that will replace and enhance the existing services in the near future.”

Jim Kirkwood, managing director of AA Driving Services, said: “There are a number of important issues involved here.

“On one hand there’s the safety issue of ensuring that drivers of fleet vehicles have the right entitlements. Then there’s the issue of privacy, as no-one wants to run the risk of exposing extremely sensitive and personal driver data to all-comers.

“We welcome the creation of the ADLV as real progress towards solving these issues, as it ensures appropriate data access governed by strict compliance and protected by effective security, in line with the DVLA’s data assurance standards. In this respect it meets the operational demands of both the fleet and insurance industries.”

Initial ADLV member organisations include: Licence Check; Drivercheck; Licence Bureau; Fleet Claims Administration; DrivingMonitor; AA DriveTech (UK); GB Group; Pinewood Technologies; Admin Business Solutions; Chalcheck; Interactive Driving Systems; Fleet Partnership Solutions; Descartes Systems UK; and Intelligent Data Systems (UK).

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Author: Gareth Roberts

News editor

gareth.roberts@bauermedia.co.uk

01733 468314

Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.

Comments (4)

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Nic Evers Salford Van Hire Ltd - 24/09/2014 11:19

So where does this leave vehicle hire companies. There will probably another Stealth Charge to obtain endorsement information!
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- Rachel - 24/09/2014 12:06
  
  @Nic Evers Salford Van Hire Ltd - I agree, Nic. Our customers are not getting anywhere fast with forthcoming information. If you hear anything let me know!
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AJB - 24/09/2014 17:09

I was under the impression that there was going to be a position whereby getting authority to check licences was not necessary if the checker could justify their actions. however it now seems we are back to where we are now - getting permission from the driver . Also it was mooted/stated that the 'non permission' checking would be free.
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Eddie Graham - 24/09/2014 21:40

For hire drive companies the above solution is not viable and I know that the DVLA will develop a solution that will help and assist, but it will still require the driver to consent permission. This is great news for fleets that all the companies above in the article are operating the checks with driver consent, this is very important for data protection and I commend them and the DVLA in keeping this professional and secure for both employee and employer. We use one of the companies above and you get nothing for nothing, so for all the Muppets out there looking for a free of charge service, please wake up and realise that consent is needed and there has to be a charge in order for the service to work. There are companies out there just using the VIEW MY LICENCE portal to check employees licence without their consent, how would that make you feel if a company was doing this with your data. The DVLA should look at this portal and tighten up its procedures here, its too easy and too dangerous. We do licence checks for a client with 120 drivers, its a small cost in the scheme of things and the job gets done. Hire drive companies will a solution
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- AJB - 25/09/2014 09:55
  
  @Eddie Graham - As far as I can see, nothing has changed and us muppets who foolishly believe that the FN article of 24/7 may have had a grain of truth or accuracy...............................VIEW MY LICENCE is useful and if the employees contracts reference this, seems a good solution
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- Gareth Roberts - 25/09/2014 10:22
  
  @ABemment - Thanks for your comment, however I think you're confusing the above story which is about the licence checking industry wanting to strengthen their collective voice and highlight their ability to provide bulk checking and additional services in light of the online licence checking service being developed by the DVLA. As correctly and accurately reported in the July 24th article, to which you're referring, the DVLA is developing a service whereby individual driving records can be checked online to replace the traditional method of checking the paper counterpart. The DVLA has said this service will 'initially' be free. It is also looking at how the data protection act may allow this to be done without the driver's 'explicit' consent, while whoever is checking the information would still need to inform the driver. As the article on the 24th makes clear, just in case you missed it, the DVLA said: “We expect to be in a position to confirm what abolition of the counterpart means to obtaining consent from the data subject in the next update.” FN is awaiting that update and will accurately report it once it is available.
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- Sage & Oinion - 26/09/2014 13:49
  
  @Eddie Graham - The View My Driver Record should always be free to us Muppets in my opinion regardless of what driver consent requirements are needed because this is replacing a system that was previously free to check (ie the actual real hard copy paper counterpart document). I think the issue here is that the licence checking companies see the VMDR as a threat to their existing and future business if fleets decide that they can employ someone to do these checks one-by-one in-house rather than outsource it as a batch.
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- Eddie Graham - 28/09/2014 11:02
  
  @Sage & Oinion - If you do not want to use a third party company, go to the DVLA directly and do your own batch look ups, still a lot better than taking a copy of the licence, which is what you are probably still doing. It will take years for the counterpart to go, it wont happen overnight, so many people will still have licences valid for years to come, so it wont effect all in 2015, only a minority. Licence checking is not all about checking a card and the counterpart, you need to check with the DVLA, even if the timebeing it cost you £2 - £5, its well worth the money and to have someone sit and key data into a system, what a waste of resource, it will cost you more in the long term. Use the DVLA if you dont like third parties, but you can be certain that many of them will offer a very good service. Maybe you need to look at you own internal policies and its obvious you are only copying and taking short cuts to save a few quid in your company.
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Alan Asbury - 25/09/2014 23:25

This is timely and very good news given my fleet changes planned for December
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