Legislation concerning
employer responsibilities where employees have company cars, car allowances or
drive professionally on behalf of an Employer.
Under Section 87 (2) of the
Road Traffic Act 1988, you are liable if you encourage or permit an
employee to drive a vehicle of any class without the correct licence. The offence can carry a penalty of 3 points and a fine
of up to £1000. You
can find the full text of the Road Traffic Act 1988 at the following location:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880052_en_4.htm
Additionally, employers are
vulnerable to prosecution for offences ranging from corporate manslaughter to
aiding and abetting in the event of a serious incident.
If an employee drives
negligently or drives a defective vehicle whilst on company business then the
employer could be liable to criminal or civil action, regardless of whether the
employee is driving his own car, a company car or a hire car.
In general, employers should
note that it is irrelevant who owns the vehicle. The legal test is whether the
vehicle is used on company business.
Employers need to be aware
that flexible benefits, car allowances and cash option schemes do not remove
this employer liability, even though management may feel that they do not need
to worry about cars employees are driving.
If the employee is on company business then the liability remains. Indeed in such situations, managerial control
is likely to be worse and the consequent risks higher.
In 2001 the Work Related Road
Safety Task Group recommended to the government that existing Health &
Safety laws be applied to all work related activities on the road and that
employers manage road risk in the same way as they manage other occupational
health and safety risks. Additionally,
the group recommended that the HSE should actively investigate road accidents
and, if appropriate, prosecute employers.
Under Section 87 (2) of the
Road Traffic Act 1988, employers are liable if you encourage or permit an
employee to drive a vehicle of any class without the correct licence. This
liability falls onto the individual — usually the Company Secretary — rather
than the company and the offence carries a penalty of 3 points and a fine of up
to £1000. The full text of the Road
Traffic Act 1988 can be found at the following location:
A company
can also be prosecuted for manslaughter committed in the course of its
operations. Normally the charge would be
of involuntary manslaughter by means of gross negligence. A death is regarded as being caused by the
company if it is caused by "management failure".
In order to convict a company
of manslaughter it must be shown that a causal link existed between a grossly
negligent act or omission by a person who is the “controlling mind” of the
company and the immediate cause of death.
The House of Lords confirmed in R v Adomoko that involuntary gross
negligence manslaughter could include 'motor manslaughter'.
It has also been proposed that
individual directors would be prosecuted and that holding and subsidiary
companies could be included in the definition of the company, so that they too
could not avoid prosecution.
Revise existing company car
and driver management policies in relation to what types of vehicle can be used
on company business, who is able to drive the vehicle, driving licence checks,
vehicle checks, claims and accident reporting, safety instruction, driving
tests, eye sight tests, vehicle risk assessments, driver risk assessments,
route risk assessments, hours driven, rest breaks etc.
Drivers should be made aware
of their responsibilities to ensure vehicle roadworthiness, to maintain correct
documentation, and to advise the employer in the event of any material changes
regarding the licence and health.
Amend the Contract of
Employment and Handbook accordingly and inform the work force
When recruiting a new employee
and driving is part of the job requirement, then: