Drivers Licence Check’s and why they are so important.
Hope you’re well and managing ok in these trying times. We’ve seen a lot of movement in the Transport Industry over the Covid-19 period which is great to see the industry is still going strong.
Now is a great time to ensure all your drivers have current and valid driver licences.
We have a few tips on how you can do this effectively to ensure the risk of having an unlicensed driver is reduced.
Under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) it is an offence to “employ an unlicensed driver”. So you need to do all that is “reasonably practicable” to make sure drivers have a current licence. If a driver has an accident and their licence is found to be cancelled, disqualified, suspended or expired, your vehicle insurance claim may be invalidated.
Look into online accounts ✅
Most State Authorities have an online system whereby licence holders can log in, and the system will display real-time currency, category (i:e MC) and expiry date of their licence. You could get drivers to log in to show you when they are on-site or get them to take a screenshot and send it to you if they are off-site.
Ask for a current drivers history report ✅
An up to date history record will show any accumulation of demerit points or offences and the currency, category of licence held (i:e MC) and expiry date of their licence.
What to be careful of ❗
VicRoads offer a telephone demerit point checking service which will give you the total demerit points of the licence number you input. The issue with this service is it won’t validate if the drivers licence is current or not, it will only give you the demerit point value held against that licence number.
We have recently confirmed with VicRoads that, if using this telephone demerit point service, and the licence is cancelled, suspended or expired it will still validate the demerit point balance so you must not use this system to check licence currency.
To check licence status, you must also follow up with one of the above options to ensure the licence is current.
If the driver history report document looks like it’s been tampered or altered, this could indicate the driver has something to hide.
If the driver is hesitant to provide any form of licence validation this should raise a red flag and needs to be investigated further.
We are always here to help. If you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact us.