What do people think of the new 'on the spot revoking of a driving license' power the police now have [since Feb 2013] and its relationship to work; is it a H&S or HR issue or what is it? Discuss

Q: Yep The police can do an on-the-spot roadside email to the DVLA who will revoke a licence instantaneously and email the revoke back to the police. The driver is then stuck as is his employer if the driver is working [driving] for their employer at the time of the event!

achrn I agree with U entirely - I was only making a comment

Does this mean that we all need to be checking our drivers to make sure that they can (at least) past this vision test and we are not left with vans etc abandoned around the country?

I'd be all in favour of this new facility the police have (although sadly there are far fewer of them around to use it). I for one don't want to share the road with someone who cannot even see properly, let alone react correctly. In fact, I'd extend this to other things, like the number of people driving around with a mobile phone stuck to their ear. In this age of hands free options, there is simply no excuse for this, and in any case the skill level of the average British motorist would not allow them to drive and conduct a phone conversation safely at the same time. Making the use of a hand held phone illegal has not reduced the practice, in fact it is now worse than ever, and trivial fines are not going to stop it.

Another power that extends limply to a FEW road users unfortunate enough to hold a UK issued driving licence - what about the Lithuanian (other nationalities are available) lorry driver? Diplomats on CD plates? Foreign service personnel serving in the UK (for those living near one of our "allies" bases)? IMHO this is a Company Policy matter which should have been covered by the HR issued contract of employment - for drivers there is a required skill i.e. driving licence and generally a documented condition that should the driver loose their licence for whatever reason they are unable to fulfil their contract (drink, drugs, speeding etc.) - I have even seen some contracts that prohibit the employee holding the type of insurance policy that provides a chauffeur service in the event of loss of licence (now there is something that should be legislated against). The classic with this one is the stipulated period during which the Police can stop a driver to conduct the eye sight test - permanent night shifts for Mr Quincy Magoo?

Just a little bit unfair me thinks. The USAF are not a bunch of cowboys. They have a very active and effecient safety team based here in the UK. They invest in safety and are willing to pay for good service, which is more than can be said for some UK companies. One of the team is a British national with good sound UK & US qualifications (also an IOSH forum member) and he does stirling work with new arrivals. He holds regular training sessions on driving in the UK and has had a significant impact reducing incident rates. Crack on.

and the US is one of 28 members of N.A.T.O. - no slight was targeted towards any individual country merely the observation that based upon the length of their tour within the UK that many service personnel may not necessarily have to apply for a DVLA issued licence.

Damn good idea. I can recall this incident well as the fatal accident that led to this change in the law happened here in Essex. Cassie McCord had been walking in Colchester town centre with a friend when an out of control car mounted the pavement and struck her trapping her between it and a shop wall. Three days earlier, police officers had spent two hours trying to persuade the 87-year-old driver not to drive his automatic Vauxhall Astra again after he was involved in a minor incident, failed an eye test and had to be driven home. At the time the officers had no powers to immediately suspend his licence and sadly the driver chose not to heed their advice. The officers had applied to DVLA to revoke his licence but he hadn't received notification from DVLA at the time of the second incident. I would hope all employers with drivers (whatever they may drive) are undertaking regular checks of their staff to ensure that they meet at least minimum standards covering all aspects of driving (including eyesight) as a Road Safety Officer for 8 years before entering the Occupational Health and Safety Field in 1982 Managing Occupational Road Risk has always been one of those areas I maintain a keen interest in. I am currently required to undertake a driver assessment test every 3 years to allow me to continue to drive on business, that includes an eyesight test.