A survey of over 100 senior UK haulage fleet managers, conducted by the Association for Driving Licence Verification, has shown that 91% of respondents want CPC & Tacho data to be available alongside online driving licence checks.

They also believe that its inclusion would eliminate the industry’s current but imprecise reliance on visual data checking.

A further 90% felt that the availability of CPC and Tacho information would make their own monitoring of driver entitlement easier, by supporting existing HR systems and acting as a single point of reference.

The ADLV believes that the data, which is currently held by the DVSA and DVLA, could be easily made available alongside existing online driving licence data feeds. Should the data become available, the Association believes it would reduce employer risk, ensure a better-trained workforce and also improve road safety.

The survey also questioned whether not knowing the training status of drivers presented the respondents with a significant administrative challenge? In all, 75% of those surveyed felt that this was indeed a challenging issue and that automating training status data would help reduce the burden considerably.

In all 80% of respondents agreed with the ADLV that access to the information would also benefit road safety, help them to remind drivers about compliance issues and to raise awareness of employee fraud risks.

Kevin Curtis, ADLV technical director added: “This survey was conducted by our member companies over the last few months and reflects the views of 100 senior UK Haulage managers - many of whom come from fleets of over 100 vehicles.

"Quite simply, it highlights a significant demand for change. This data needs to be available, whether it’s used to improve compliance, training, licence administration or more broadly to increase road safety. We have forwarded the respondents’ views to the DVLA and are optimistic that they will look sympathetically upon our call to action.”

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