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ICO dispels myth that fleet managers could breach data protection on licence checks

According to monitoring and checking company LICENCECHECK, fleet managers asking employees to give consent, allowing access to their driving licence records, could inadvertently find themselves on the wrong side of the law, in the confusion surrounding the upcoming abolition of the licence paper counterpart.

The company added that under the recently enabled Section 56 of the Data Protection Act 1998, employers are prohibited from forcing workers to supply ‘Subject Access Reports’ containing information on criminal history and investigations conducted by the police and authorities. Such information, if required, must now be obtained through agencies set up for criminal record checks.  The change in law is intended to prevent discrimination surrounding elements such as spent convictions that could be seen on a Subject Access Report.

In response, the ICO said it is keen to correct this false impression and reassure fleet managers that they will not be banned from requesting specific information from drivers when it is clearly relevant to the job. 

An ICO spokesperson said: “The recent changes to data protection legislation outlawing enforced subject access requests do not stop fleet managers asking their drivers to provide specific details that are clearly necessary to assess their suitability for the role. Providing a fleet company has the driver’s consent then they can access information about the number of points and endorsements on a person’s driving licence without breaking the law. There is clearly a difference between this approach and forcing an individual to provide a full copy of all of the information held about them obtained using their data protection rights.”

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.