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It would seem that magistrates have gone soft, as a result of the recession, if you have accidentally reached the automatic driving ban of 12 points on your licence. Some say this is wrong and that the ban should be automatically imposed, especially in extreme cases like the driver who was allowed to keep his licence even after he amassed 54 Read more »

Insurance premiums should start to fall soon as the Government introduces a tough new law next year to clamp down on the 1.5 million uninsured drivers. The legislation will put the onus on the registered keeper of the car to ensure that the vehicle is on cover. This will be monitored via a link between the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and the DVLA with the uninsured automatically fined £100. Andy Drane, Read more »

On the subject of grey fleets, ALD Automotive who provide fleets with licence checking services, have highlighted the need to constantly check employee licences if they are expected to drive their own cars on company business. Their advice followed the discovery of a driver who had received 16 years of bans in a space of just 16 weeks. ALD first checked his licence in 2009 and noted that he had received a 12 Read more »

The new road fund licence rules come into force on the 1^st April. For some it is good news as those with low emission cars will see the cost of their RFL or road tax reduced, in some cases to zero, but a big row has broken out because drivers have to renew before the 1^st April to ensure that the car is taxed at all times but because the DVLA was having a cup of tea they couldn’t be arsed to change their computer Read more »

Government figures show that up to 1 million scrapped cars are still being driven on the road. Whilst 2 million motorists told the DVLA that their cars were being destroyed only half were issued with a Certificate of Destruction, the proof that a car has been destroyed. Dodgy dismantlers have been exploiting a legislation loophole whereby the DVLA doesn’t need to see the Certificate before it registers a car as Read more »

If you have had reason to have your driving licence updated because of a change of address or your licence has run out of date (don’t forget that the new photo licences only last for 10 years), you need to check it for any omissions. The DVLA have admitted that some licences have been returned with errors, in particular entitlements such as the entitlement to drive a motorcycle. One would think that the solution was simple Read more »

Do you have a photo licence? If you do how long have you had it because if it is over or close to 10 years you will need to update the photo or face a fine of up to £1,000. In a poll carried out by Fleet News it was found that 24% of those questioned didn’t know that there was a requirement to renew the photograph, they thought it lasted as long as Read more »

Insurance rules are about to change as a result of proposed legislation that is going through the consultative stage. If introduced it will become an offence simply to keep an uninsured vehicle as opposed to the current legislation that makes it an offence to drive an uninsured vehicle. Road safety minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, said ‘Increased police powers already mean that 400 uninsured vehicles are seized every day Read more »

If you are an F1 fan you may be interested to know that the DVLA are about to release the series of F plates for sale from F1 to F20 followed by 3 letters. One of the expected quickest to go when the sale starts on 7^th October is F1 DAD (get the pun?). Log onto their website to see what numbers are available. By Graham Hill

Few people are aware of their obligations if they have medical problems. Gavin Jones, risk management expert at Masterlease pointed out ‘All drivers are required by law to notify the DVLA of any medical condition which may affect their fitness do drive but many drivers are failing to report this and could be using the road illegally.’ He added ‘When the DVLA is notified of any medical issues, a full investigation is carried out before the motorist is deemed fit to continue with their licence.’ If this is the case and drivers are driving Read more »