NEWS - ROAD SAFETY - 31.01.2005

Mileage claim forms and liability

If an employee has an accident whilst driving his own car on business, the police may investigate you. How can you reduce your potential liability?

Driving on business. As you may be aware, the police are now investigating employers whose staff are involved in accidents whilst driving on business. One area of particular concern is accidents caused by those who use private cars for this purpose. This is because these vehicles aren’t subject to the same safety regime as those provided under a lease arrangement would be.

Safety checks? For example, privately owned vehicles may be potential death traps that you’re unaware of. The only way to find out is to take steps to ensure that an employee’s car is roadworthy, fit for its purpose, e.g. is capable of transporting large goods safely, properly insured and has passed its MOT. Whilst these issues should automatically be taken care of for you under a lease or fleet arrangement, this isn’t the case with privately owned vehicles.

Liability issues. If you’re wondering what this has to do with you, the answer is straightforward. You retain some liability because these employees are using their own vehicles on your behalf. As they’re “at work”, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 applies. In practice, this means that you may be held partially liable for any accident, if it can be shown that you haven’t checked these vehicles.

A new solution. Whilst good practice involves the making of annual checks, more frequent ones would reduce the risks to you even further. The only problem is how to introduce them in a time-efficient way. Luckily, there’s a solution, which even comes with an incentive for your employees to co-operate.

Tip. This works by adding a declaration to your mileage claim forms so that each time they are submitted, the driver will sign a declaration stating that; “I confirm that my car remains insured, roadworthy, fit for its purpose and continues to have a current MOT certificate”. Do make it clear that if they want to be reimbursed for work-related fuel costs, then this declaration must be signed first.

Add a declaration to your mileage claim form which states that those making the claim confirm that their vehicle remains roadworthy and insured etc.

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