From records made at the time, such as a driver ID on the tracker or camera, a vehicle check done when the driver took the van or a booking or key log. When a speeding notice arrives, the company as the van's keeper has to name the driver. A company can only rely on not knowing if it shows that no record was kept and that not keeping one was reasonable (Road Traffic Act 1988, section 172).
This page explains what the law expects and how fleets keep the records. For a particular notice, take legal advice.
What the law asks of a company
When the police believe an offence such as speeding has been committed, they ask the keeper to say who was driving. Failing to give that information is an offence in itself. A person isn't guilty if they show they didn't know and couldn't have found out "with reasonable diligence". For a company that defence is narrower: it also has to show that no record was kept of who was driving and that not keeping one was reasonable. Where the failure comes down to the "neglect" of a director or manager, they can be guilty as well as the company.
For a fleet with shared vans, that makes a record of who had each van the main protection.
The records that settle it
- Driver ID on the tracker or camera. A fob, a card or a login in the driver's app ties each journey to a person, though fobs get shared and forgotten.
- The vehicle check. A walkaround check done in an app when the driver takes the van links that driver to that van from that moment.
- Bookings, key logs and job sheets. These work when they're kept as the van goes out, rather than filled in afterwards.
The strongest records are the ones drivers create anyway as part of the job, since nothing depends on someone remembering.
Why it matters beyond speeding notices
The same record decides who reports a claim, whose licence goes to the insurer and whose score a journey counts towards. A careful day driver shouldn't be marked down because the same van is driven hard on the night shift.
Where SHIELD fits
SHIELD works out who was driving from the systems a fleet already runs, so there are no new tags or keypads to fit. It uses the driver assignment from the tracking or cameras where they have it. The walkaround check-in in the SHIELD app ties a driver to a van until they check into another. When the driver has done the walkaround check in the app, SHIELD can show who had the van at a given date and time, such as the moment on a speeding notice. For HGVs, SHIELD can also use the tachograph. Journeys, incidents and claims then count towards the driver SHIELD has for that van at the time.
Sources: Road Traffic Act 1988, section 172 (legislation.gov.uk).