Fleets are confused about the ways they can check employees’ driving licences when paper counterpart is abolished from June 8, claims LicenceCheck.

It follows the introduction of the View My Driving Licence service, an online service for individuals to access their driving licence.

The DVLA has repeatedly stated that this is for driver use only and that any use of the service by third parties, including an employer, is an offence under the Data Protection Act. It has said it will investigate and pursue any case where unauthorised access has occurred.

However, Richard Brown, managing director of LicenceCheck, warns the industry that many fleet managers are confused about the ways in which they can legally check driving licences, and have been using this View my Driver Licence system.

“It’s an incredibly confusing time for companies who need to manage their fleet drivers within the confines of the law,” he said.

“Some of the fleets we have spoken to have been told it’s okay to use this service if they’ve obtained a written mandate from the employee concerned.

“But this conflicted with our understanding, so we asked the DVLA and received a definitive response stating that is ‘intended for drivers to check their own records only, and should not be used by third parties to access driver records’.”

He continued: “It’s unclear what trouble businesses would get in if caught, but it would be apparent who was guilty.  

“If a company accesses a number of employee’s records using View my Driver Licence through one computer, the IP address for each will be identical.”

In time for the paper counterpart abolition on June 8, the DVLA is launching a solution for fleets called the Share Driver Licence, which allows employers and other third parties to check a driver’s licence by using a unique single use code issued to the driver.