Fake Driving Licences

Saturday, 7. June 2008

Warnings have been issued over the rapid growth in fake driving licences that can now be bought over the internet for as little as £350. The police are saying that these licences are virtually indistinguishable from the originals and should cause concern for employers who have a duty of care to ensure that drivers are road legal to drive their company vehicles or drive their own vehicles on company business. It has been pointed out that if a driver is involved in an accident whilst driving a company vehicle with an invalid licence the insurance may be invalidated leaving the employer to pick up the cost of repairs not only to the car the driver was in but also third party repairs and even worseif a fatality results. The employer could find himself on the wrong side of the new corporate manslaughter legislation which could lead to imprisonment. The only solution is to check with the DVLA who can verify the validity of a driving licence and confirm the points the driver may have accrued. In addition to this many companies rely upon driving licences as proof of identity as we do in the finance industry so if you take a driving licence as proof you may need to look at additional forms of proof such as passport along with a credit card as some funders already ask for! As if the bloody job wasn’t hard enough already! Grrrr!