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Home / 2006 / June 2006 / Penalty Points - Employers Beware!

Earlier this year (2006) we saw the introduction of 31 new penalty point offences. If you have employees who are required to drive as part of their terms and conditions of employment (e.g. engineers, business consultants, sales reps, etc.), you need to consider how to react if such employees incur substantial penalty points ultimately resulting in a temporary disqualification from driving.

To-date the focus of the penalty points systems has been on speeding offences. However, the new penalty point offences focus more on driver behaviour and include such areas as dangerous overtaking, blocking junctions, failure to obey traffic lights and offences on the motorway and hard shoulder. A driver who incurs 12 penalty points over a three year period will be disqualified from driving for six months.

Going forward, employers will certainly need to be wary of employing people who have already accumulated penalty points and who will be required to drive as part of their job.

Additionally, companies with significant employees required to drive should put in place appropriate driving policies which cover both company vehicles and employees required to use their own vehicles.

KEY POINTS FOR YOUR DRIVING POLICY A comprehensive policy should include: - details of company car benefits where appropriate - Insurance Arrangements - Petrol/Mileage Allowance - Car maintenance responsibilities - details of situations within which company cars may be withdrawn or result in the termination of employment, e.g. driving over statutory legal alcohol limit - details of how traffic fines and/or penalty points will be handled - procedures employees should follow if involved in an accident - use of company car for private purposes when travelling abroad - assignment of company car during extended leave periods, eg sick leave, maternity leave, parental leave etc. - expected standards of driving, e.g. processes to be followed before setting out on long journeys, mobile phones in the car , driving while on medication etc.

If an employee is required to drive as part of their job then this requirement should be clearly set out in the statement of their terms and conditions of their employment. The consequences of loosing the ability to drive, e.g. through loss of their license should also be clearly stated, particularly if it could jeopardise their continued employment with the company.

AnneMarie Wade is Director of HR Consulting with Grant Thornton.