Mileage Expenses and MOT/Insurance/Licence details

[Fer]

SWMBO has been summoned to a managers meeting the other side of London. Public transport is not an option in this case, so she was planning on driving. They have told her (although this is not supported in the company handbook) that in order to claim travel expenses for the mileage (approx 120 miles round trip) they require copies of her driving licence, MOT and insurance documents.

Given the bunch of twunts she works for (long story) I am not keen on giving this sort of information to them. Can they ligitimately demand this informaiton, or can the DPA be used to put them back in their box. I would have thought a signed statement telling them that "the car is taxed and insured, and I hold a valid licence" should be enough.

[The Leaper]

Being used for business too...are you sure it's insured for that? Isn't that by itself a legitimate reason to ask for insurance confirmation?

R.

[Stupeo]

It's a fair thing to request IMO.

[c8bof]

We ask our employees who use their own vehicles for these docs - covers both our backsides and theirs if something happens. Legitimate request.

[Fer]

Thanks for the input. We will have to check the insurance, but I am pretty sure she doesn't have class 1 business use on it.

TBH she is not keen on the drive, but has been told that she must attend. (Her normal commute is 3 miles, and her sense of direction isn't great). We were planning on getting someone else to drive her, in return for the petrol money, but this is becoming a can of worms.

I know that they are not going to want to pay to amend her insurance. (Yes, I know this is normally free to add at renewal, but part way through might be less straight forward).

[Countdown]

Fer said:

SWMBO has been summoned to a managers meeting the other side of London. Public transport is not an option in this case, so she was planning on driving. They have told her (although this is not supported in the company handbook) that in order to claim travel expenses for the mileage (approx 120 miles round trip) they require copies of her driving licence, MOT and insurance documents.

Given the bunch of twunts she works for (long story) I am not keen on giving this sort of information to them. Can they ligitimately demand this informaiton, or can the DPA be used to put them back in their box. I would have thought a signed statement telling them that "the car is taxed and insured, and I hold a valid licence" should be enough.

Is she in the Public Sector? From my experience a lot of PS organisations are putting this in place as a result of the Corporate Mansluaghter & Corporate Homicide Act.

In brief; If a vehicle is being used on official business the Employer has an obligation to ensure that the vehicle is legal and roadworthy. If they do not and an accident happens (as a result of the vehicle being illegal/unroadworthy) they (the employer) could be held liable. How the employer meets the obligation is up to him/her but they would have to show that all reasonable checks had been carried out. Therefore many PS employers check an employees MOT/ Business insurance/ Driving License before allowing them to use the vehicle on official business.

So, to answer your question, yes they are entitled to ask for it. A signed statement would be insufficient.

There are ways around it. If for example your wife does not receive a car allowance and is therefore not required to have a car available for work purposes she can insist that her employers make alternative provision for her e.g. taxi, public transport, hire car etc. (A hire car might work out cheaer if she's getting 40p per mile)

HTH

[bigandclever]

She doesn't claim travel expenses for this meeting then, problem solved

[trickywoo]

bigandclever said:

She doesn't claim travel expenses for this meeting then, problem solved

120 miles the other side of London and back FOC? I'd be claiming expenses unless I really liked my employers and there was some give and take on their part.

We don't know salary details but its possible that attending the meeting without expenses could leave them out of pocket for a days take home. Not reasonable.

[bigandclever]

You're right, of course, I was being slightly facetious. The company have made a valid and reasonable request (in my eyes), business insurance is (probably) required, and public transport is available. None of which suits the OP's missus, which is fine, but something has to give.

[Burrow01]

bigandclever said:

You're right, of course, I was being slightly facetious. The company have made a valid and reasonable request (in my eyes), business insurance is (probably) required, and public transport is available. None of which suits the OP's missus, which is fine, but something has to give.

He did say "Public transport is not an option in this case" - not sure why.

If its really not an option, and the OP is not insured for business travel, maybe they should put her up for the night before in a hotel

[marshalla]

Why can't the company provide a hire car if there is no public transport option ?

This used to be policy at my last employer for anything over about 50 miles.

[Fer]

Thanks for the input/insight, folks. The reason public transport isn't an option is two fold:
1) It will be potentially 3 trains and a tube across town
2) The SO is not too comfortable in making the trip.

As commented, the expenses would be a days wages, but she has been told that she will receive a written warning if she fails to attend. We had asked my dad to drive her, but we might have to revisit the trains, and see if she can manage it.

(Yes, perhaps she should be able to race between trains, platforms and underground stations without missing a beat, but this is well outside her comfort zone, as a catering manager her work is far more "kitchen based", and she is happy enough catering for 200 hungry school kids).

[John Laverick]

Resonable request but if you don't want to do it then tell them to provide a hire car.

[mph1977]

John Laverick said:

Resonable request but if you don't want to do it then tell them to provide a hire car.

at which point they will still want to see your driving licence at the very least.

corporate manslaughter legislation has made 'driving for work' an even more fraught process than before...

[Countdown]

mph1977 said:

John Laverick said:

Resonable request but if you don't want to do it then tell them to provide a hire car.

at which point they will still want to see your driving licence at the very least.

corporate manslaughter legislation has made 'driving for work' an even more fraught process than before...

With a hire car I'm pretty sure the license checking is done by the hire company. Accordingly there shouldn't be any liability on the Employer.

[Deva Link]

mph1977 said:

corporate manslaughter legislation has made 'driving for work' an even more fraught process than before...

Yep - there's a "duty of care" issue here. The employer could be in all sorts of trouble if they didn't check the docs.

As others have suggested, a hire car would often be supplied for this type of use. If the company is of any size, it would be probably be cheaper for them than paying mileage (assuming they pay the max 45p per mile for own car use).

If she doesn't have, and doesn't want to get, biz use for her own car then she can't use it anyway. And someone else driving her is on uncertain ground too.

Edited by Deva Link on Thursday 30th June 23:24

[mph1977]

Countdown said:

With a hire car I'm pretty sure the license checking is done by the hire company. Accordingly there shouldn't be any liability on the Employer.

except hire cars for commercial organisations are generally hired uninsured and added to the corporate insurance as temp additional vehicles ...

[randlemarcus]

I'd be tempted to provide copies of the docs, as it's not an unreasonable request, given the above comments (my lot use the AA to gather all this rubbish).

However, point out that the insurance is SDP&C, thus does not cover a trip to another location. Hire car, please thankyou, or change the meeting to her kitchen.

[Countdown]

mph1977 said:

Countdown said:

With a hire car I'm pretty sure the license checking is done by the hire company. Accordingly there shouldn't be any liability on the Employer.

except hire cars for commercial organisations are generally hired uninsured and added to the corporate insurance as temp additional vehicles ...

I think the OP's other half is a schools catering manager. Schools/LAs don't amend their insurance policies for a 1-day hire.

[mph1977]

Countdown said:

I think the OP's other half is a schools catering manager. Schools/LAs don't amend their insurance policies for a 1-day hire.

i suspect they would , given local offices of Charities have to do so when they hire additional minibuses or a van it's one form faxed or emailed to the broker giving details of the vehicle and who it was hired from.