The checking of licences for business drivers is booming, according to leading provider Licence Check, which has broken the record for the number of operations carried out in a calendar year through its DAVIS platform.

The latest Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) figures show that the Derby-based business, part of the Compliance Division of the Ebbon Group, confirmed its position as the UK’s number one provider of licence checking services with a total of 1.26million licence checks between the start of April 2023 and end of March this year.

The figure was a 26% increase on 2023, itself a record year when the number of licence checks via Licence Check’s DAVIS (Driver and Vehicle Information Solution) platform went through the 1m barrier for the first time. And the rate of checks has continued to climb in the new financial year with results for April ’24 up by a further 25% compared to the same month last year.

Licence Check puts the growth down to several contributory factors, one being organic growth – the company has seen a 17% increase in the total number of organisations using its services, which now stands at almost 5,000 separate businesses. There are now around 800,000 active driver details listed on the DAVIS platform, a 43% increase year-on-year, with data on around 48,000 vehicles, a 175% increase on the previous year.

Licence Check managing director Keith Allen described the latest figures as fantastic news. “To beat the 1m mark for two year’s running is testimony to the ease-of-use of the DAVIS platform, its effectiveness and the sheer hard work of our highly talented team right the way across the business,” he said.

Licence Check has launched a number of highly targeted new products and solutions during the last 12 months – these include a new interactive coaching module for company drivers within DAVIS, delivered by a new driver app, which replaced the previous E-Learning module and is intended to create a community of better informed, engaged and, therefore, safer company drivers by delivering bite-sized educational content that is interactive and easily accessible through the new app.

A new scheduling feature has allowed companies to deliver extra, ad hoc training for drivers from a bank of more than 35 driver training courses alongside the continuous training the coaching module provides.

Further success has come through DAVIS Fleet, which extends the DAVIS platform from what was traditionally a licence checking service to an analytical fleet management offering and information service for fleet operators. This has included a number of different management tools which, through the consolidation of big data, smart fleet analysis and highly visual dashboards, provide fleet operators with a wealth of management information, including CO2 analysis and trends, fuel and mileage management and compliance, amongst others.

“There are a host of exciting new developments scheduled for DAVIS over the coming months, including adding further functionality into the Driver App such as vehicle walk-around checks which we believe will further fuel the continuous growth of the business and keep us firmly at the top of the tree,” added Allen.

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