New fines for fleet owners

“This should be a real wake-up call to all businesses managing fleets all over the country”, warns Richard Brown, managing director of Licence Check, said.

“New sentencing guidelines mean that courts now have the power to fine businesses up to £20million for Corporate Manslaughter offences and a maximum of £10milion for Heath and Safety regulation offences. The risk to those operating fleets, regardless of size should not be overlooked as the consequences could be more painful than ever.”

The new sentencing guidelines for Corporate Manslaughter and health and safety offences mean it is now imperative that all businesses ensure that driving risks are properly assessed, and that their drivers are properly trained and remain licenced. A company’s ‘home-made’ policies no longer provide adequate protection. However, merely putting a policy in place does not offer enough protection – it must also be enforced rigorously.

“Let’s not forget grey fleet, either”, Richard added. “The same obligations apply to drivers using their own vehicles. Irrespective of ownership, the responsibility of ensuring that a private car is safe for work use lies with the business owner. A prudent employer should ensure these vehicles are properly insured, serviced and maintained by their owners and properly record this information. The risk is now too great to simply ignore.”

A provider of driving licence checking and monitoring, LICENCECHECK can assist companies of any size by allowing fleet managers, directors and business owners to validate the driving licence records of all those who drive on company business as well as providing fleet and grey fleet management solutions. Its fast and secure online web portal links directly with the DVLA and accesses data sourced from the SMMT and DVSA to provide a flexible and powerful service, that helps safeguard against the liability risks of poorly trained or incorrectly licenced drivers and vehicles.