The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations in May last year has led to “one of the most challenging years to date” for businesses, says Licence Bureau.

The regulations continued to create compliance challenges for businesses as a lack of understanding and willingness to follow formal procedures proliferates, said the driver licence validation services supplier.

This situation has been compounded by the exponential growth in grey fleet.

Steve Pinchen, sales director at Licence Bureau, said: “A little over 12 months on from the introduction of GDPR, compounded by the changes that have occurred subsequent to it, and many businesses continue to come to terms with the associated new policies and processes.

“Although most businesses and their employees have successfully transitioned to meet these new policy requirements, there remains a considerable number who are cause for concern – the greatest challenges associated with grey fleet.”

He added: “Grey fleet really is the biggest issue affecting compliance right now and is growing all the time.”

Licence Bureau believes the compliance challenge is divided into three clear categories: company car; cash alternative; and private drivers – each presenting their own level of risk.

Pinchen said: “Private drivers are the greatest grey fleet challenge and present the highest risk to businesses.

“Typically, this demographic is either working on ‘loose’ contracts, or only undertake sporadic journeys.

“Therefore management falls into the ‘no one owns it’ category – a real headache for businesses and an area most drivers themselves are either unaware of or unwilling to engage on.

“However, negligence is not an excuse and businesses need to do everything within their powers to ensure this category of risk is covered.”

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