When a regular driver is off sick or on holiday, an agency driver is the quickest fix. They arrive at 5:30am, you hand over the keys and the route sheet, and the van is on the road by six. The risk is that the checks you would never skip for an employee get skipped because the agency "has already done them".
The agency has its own obligations, but you are the one whose vehicle is on the road and whose operator licence is on the line. These are the checks worth making, and the evidence worth keeping, before an agency driver takes a vehicle out.
1. Who is actually driving
The agency tells you who is coming. The person who turns up may not be the person on the booking. Record the name of the person who actually takes the vehicle, with a mobile number you can reach them on, and the agency they came from. That one line answers most questions that arrive weeks later, from penalty notices to damage claims.
2. The driving licence
Check the licence itself, not just the agency's word:
- Is it valid? Look at the expiry date on the photocard.
- Do the categories cover the vehicle? A category B licence is not enough for a 7.5 tonne rigid, and the categories needed for larger vehicles depend on the weight.
- Is it a UK licence? If not, check what applies to your vehicle and route before the driver goes out.
You can also check a driver's record with the DVLA using their permission. Whether you do that for agency drivers, and how often, is your policy, but write the policy down and follow it.
3. Driver CPC and, where it applies, the tachograph card
Professional drivers of larger vehicles generally need a valid Driver CPC, and drivers who need a tachograph card should have their own. Record the expiry dates rather than assuming they are fine. An expired date should stop the route.
4. A photo of the licence
A photocopy in a folder gets lost. A photo taken by the driver at the start of the shift is dated, tied to the route and cannot be misfiled. It also makes the driver look at the details they are confirming.
5. Keep the record with the route, not the driver
Agencies often send a different person each day under the same booking. If you store the details against a driver record, the next person overwrites the last. The record that matters is "who drove this route on this day", so keep the details with the route.
6. An emergency contact
If something happens on the road, you want a number for the driver's next of kin or the agency's out-of-hours line, not a search through emails.
How Fleetnyx handles it
In Fleetnyx you tick Agency driver on a driver record and name the agency. When a route goes to that driver, the driver app asks whoever arrives for their name, mobile, licence number, the categories they hold, licence and CPC expiry dates, an emergency contact and a photo of the licence. It refuses an expired licence or CPC, asks the driver to confirm the details are correct, and will not let the route start until they are given.
The details are saved on that route and shown to the office with the licence photo. If you reassign the route to someone else, the old details are removed and the new driver is asked. You can read more on the agency driver management page, or see how shared tablets and PIN sign-in let an agency driver use the app without a user account.
Fleetnyx records what the driver enters and the photo. It doesn't check the licence with the DVLA for you, so keep your own check in the process, and record it however you do for your employees.