Stamping out counterfeit driving licenses – Swannells – Warehousing Cambridgeshire

The number of people who have fallen victim to identity theft last year rose 57% from the previous year, according to the most recent figures. The annual cost of fraud in the UK is around £190bn – amounting to nearly £3,000 per person in the UK.

While the UK finance industry is making moved to attempt to stamp out fraud by developing secure verification software such as voice biometrics, other industries have been slower to respond, including the transport industry.

Driving licenses are regularly used as a means of identification and the DVLA could and should be doing more to tackle the growing number of illegal drivers on the roads, some of which hold counterfeit driving licenses. Whilst it is difficult to put a precise number on the problem, as there is no data available on the number of counterfeit driving licenses in circulation. You only have to search Google to find a number of UK and overseas websites who are prepared to sell you fake driving licenses, as well as other ID documents.

A Great Threat – Swannells – Warehousing Cambridgeshire

According to License Check Ltd, counterfeit driving licenses pose a great risk to fleet operators, deliver companies and almost any organisation that requires employees to drive. Managing Director of License Check Ltd, Richard Brown, had this to say: “Ensuring an employee holds a valid driving licence is one of the required checks that organisations should carry out, in order to address their Duty of Care obligation. If such basic checks do not take place, employers (including senior management) may be criminally liable for any deaths or serious injury that occur as a result of a road traffic accident, involving an employee who is driving on company business.

“Whilst many organisations are prioritising driver compliance, some fleet managers with a small number of vehicles, simply take a copy of an employee’s driving licence, without undertaking any further checks. This is worthless, especially when a counterfeit licence can be quickly and easily purchased online.

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Warehousing Cambridgeshire – Swannells

He continued: “The simple answer is for the DVLA to supply third party licence checking providers with more data. For example, each driving licence carries a Unique Identifier (generated by the card manufacturer) which is a unique reference etched into a Driving Licence. If the DVLA made the Unique Identifier available to licence checking providers, an enhanced check could be carried out and lost, stolen or forged cards could easily be flagged up and withdrawn from circulation.

Swannells Transport – Warehousing Cambridgeshire

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