My company has to hire drivers from an agency from
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time to time to cover hohdays, sickness and so on. 1 understand that the Department of the Environment is not satisfied that this practice conforms with the provisions of the Transport Act 1968 which relate to operators' licensing. Would you please explain this. Am I breaking the law?
ASection 60 subsection (1) of the Transport Act 1968 states that no person shall . . . use a goods vehicle on a road for the carriage of goods for hire or reward or for or in connection with any trade or business carried on by him, except under an operator's licence. The size of vehicle to which this section applies is specified subsequently.
However, the pertinent word is "use" and in section 92, subsection (2), the user is defined as the driver of a vehicle, if it is in his possession under an agreement for hire, hire-purchase or loan. In any other case the person whose servant or agent the driver is shall be deemed to be the person using the vehicle.
Agency drivers can be held to be the servant or agent of the agency and, strictly speaking therefore, the agency is the user of whichever vehicle its servant or agent drives. In that case, the agency should hold the 0 licence for that vehicle.
Since the statement by the DoE, some driver agencies have taken steps to amend the terms of their contracts in an attempt to satisfy the provisions of the Act. It will be for the courts to decide whether or not they have succeeded.
In the meantime, it Would be wise for your company to complete some form of simple contract agreement with the drivers it hires setting out terms of employment by your company in accordance with the agreement it has made with the agency. One copy could be given to the driver to be returned when the hire period is finished and another retained in your company's files.