{"id":7229,"date":"2015-03-09T16:45:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T16:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=7229"},"modified":"2017-06-23T09:41:25","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T09:41:25","slug":"how-will-the-end-of-the-driving-licence-paper-counterpart-affect-van-hire-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/7229","title":{"rendered":"How will the end of the driving licence paper counterpart affect van hire companies?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After an initial half-baked attempt to\u00a0abolish the paper counterpart of the UK driving licence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/6876\">in January<\/a>, the government has confirmed that the paper counterpart issued with UK photocard driving licences\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/6956\">will\u00a0no longer be valid from 8 June 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This has a number of\u00a0important implications for van hire companies, and addressing this change will require forward planning\u00a0if companies are to avoid costly and risky\u00a0workarounds.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7232\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7232\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7232\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-1-sm.jpg\" alt=\"LICENCECHECK RealTime \" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-1-sm.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-1-sm-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-1-sm-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7232\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">LICENCECHECK RealTime is the first product to provide real-time UK driver licence checks for companies ahead of the abolition of the paper counterpart.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing\u00a0Association (BVRLA) has issued some guidelines explaining the issues &#8212; and how they can be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps by coincidence (perhaps not), the first\u00a0real-time driver licence checking system, LICENCECHECK RealTime,\u00a0has also just been launched:\u00a0such systems are likely to be\u00a0the only viable way for firms to\u00a0check licences\u00a0once the paper counterpart has gone.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s\u00a0what the BVRLA has to say on the subject (<strong><em>my comments\u00a0<\/em><em>in italics<\/em><\/strong>):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li value=\"3\">The driver record held centrally by the DVLA will be the only legal source of the driver\u2019s licensing history, penalty points, endorsement and disqualification details.<\/li>\n<li>From 8 June 2015, fleets will have three options for checking a driver\u2019s details:\n<ul>\n<li>They can call the DVLA\u2019s premium rate telephone service. This costs 51p per minute and the driver must be present.<br \/>\n<strong><em>However, I suspect this will be too slow and expensive for all but the smallest companies. Plus the BVRLA says it\u00a0will not be sufficient for audit\/compliance purposes as it will not provide an authenticated, timed record of the check.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They can ask drivers to provide a printed copy of their licence details using the DVLA\u2019s new Share My Driving Licence (SMDL) service, which is accessible via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.gov.uk<\/a> digital government services portal. The SMDL service is free and the details can be separately verified online by using a one-time-only DVLA access code supplied by the driver.<br \/>\n<strong><em>The DVLA warns that handling and storing driver information\u00a0brings reponsibilities under data protection legislation. In my view, it&#8217;s also clear that this approach will be cumbersome and unreliable &#8212;\u00a0especially as many drivers will fail to turn up with a suitable printout from the SMDL service. To access the information, drivers need their driving licence number <\/em>and <em>National Insurance number, plus access to a computer and printer &#8212; so last minute checks could be difficult.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They can use an accredited driving licence verification service provider.<em><br \/>\n<strong>Inevitably this will be the only satisfactory option for most\u00a0van hire companies. Data protection, audit and compliance responsibilities will all be taken care of by DVLA-accredited\u00a0licence check service providers.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The way forward is pretty clear &#8212; a subscription service offering reliable, real-time access to the DVLA&#8217;s\u00a0driving licence database, with no data protection issues, and a\u00a0reliable audit trail.<\/p>\n<h3>Introducing\u00a0LICENCECHECK RealTime<\/h3>\n<p>As if by magic, the BVRLA&#8217;s press release hit the\u00a0newswires at exactly the same time\u00a0the makers of LICENCECHECK announced the launch of\u00a0their\u00a0new real-time licence checking software, named RealTime.<\/p>\n<p>According to the firm, this is the first product of its kind that&#8217;s commercially available in the UK. It uses the DVLA&#8217;s technology to provide immediate results &#8212; previous versions of the firm&#8217;s system delivered results overnight, rather than instantly.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7233\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-2.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7233\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7233\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-2-300x227.jpg\" alt=\"Example real-time driver licence check\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-2-300x227.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-2-1024x776.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-2-50x38.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/licencecheck-2.jpg 1041w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7233\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of a real-time driving licence check result from LICENCECHECK RealTime (click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>LICENCECHECK managing director Richard Brown said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNot only does our RealTime software make life easier for companies with fleets, but it reduces potential corporate liability considerably, and with the drive towards corporate responsibility and an awareness of their organisation\u2019s duty of care\u00a0 moving upwards in our clients\u2019 agendas, it\u2019s an area which can\u2019t be overlooked.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It takes little imagination to\u00a0see the\u00a0legal and compensation issues that could result from hiring a vehicle to someone without a valid driving licence &#8212; or with prohibited endorsements which they failed to declare,\u00a0invalidating the hired vehicle&#8217;s insurance.<\/p>\n<p>In my view, there&#8217;s no doubt that the scale of these risks\u00a0means that\u00a0van hire companies will flock to sign up to systems such as LICENCECHECK &#8212; although I would stress that there will be competitors in the market and the DVLA is providing an open platform to allow companies to develop their own solutions.<\/p>\n<p>The only question is how many of these other solutions will be ready by June?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the BVRLA explains, van hire companies will have little choice but to use DVLA-accredited driving licence checking software from June 8, when the paper counter part to the UK licence is abolished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[1678],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7229"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9959,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7229\/revisions\/9959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}