The Department for Transport has announced that the green paper counterpart to each credit card licence will be removed as a requirement from 2014.

Neville Briggs, managing director at CFC, said: 'While it is a far from perfect method because it is infrequently up to date, checking the paper counterpart is still used by many fleets as a means of proving whether drivers have any points on their licence.

'In the future, these fleets will have to find some form of alternative checking to fulfil their duty of care, and using some form of online system is the only alternative,' he added.

CFC’s Licence Link checking software is currently used by fleets totalling tens of thousands of drivers to carry out regular driving licence checks on company drivers.

Briggs explained: 'Our understanding is that the DVLA is looking at a number of possibilities when it comes to making driving licence information available to fleets online. Whatever is decided, we will enhance our software to ensure that checks are still being carried out on an automated basis in order to satisfy fleet requirements.

'Clearly, being able to access up-to-date information about drivers is something that is essential in order for fleets to meet their risk management responsibilities, and ensuring that online systems work as well as possible will remain very important,' he concluded.