I have to take my car back to the dealers after the foot wells filled with water,and so will be needing a courtesy car for a couple of days. The last time that I used one of their cars,they took a copy of my driving licence and I had to argue for it's return.Are they entitled to a copy,and if so,for how long? We have been lease car customers of theirs for 9 years,so surely they should know us. Is it me just being paranoid??
------------- Silence is golden
Duct tape is silver
The copy of the licence covers the insurance, so they may have to demonstrate you had a licence to the insurers. I wouldn't expect them to have to do this past the period that years insurance covered though. It's whether you feel strongly enough to ask for it back after a period of time I suppose. Personally I wouldn't bother, the information held on it, on its own is of little use to anyone these days, especially on a copy.
They answer is...They are not entitled to a copy of your licence & you are not entitled to a courtesy car. It is an arrangement that requires the mutual agreement of both parties. If you fail to agree then the arrangement will not take place unless one of the parties to that arrangement makes concessions....
Of course, they may have taken a further copy before returning the one you got back. Or even copied any information they need/want longhand. Once they have seen your licence, the information on it is in their hands, so worrying about whether they give you a photocopy is probably pointless.
Not sure what your concerns are but as they are handling personal data they will need to comply with a number of legal obligations to protect that information under the data protection act. http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection.aspx
------------- Ollie
2016
Monplaisir - Provence
Camping Les Gorges du Loup
I think it is reasonable and proper that they should see/copy your licence before they allow you to drive their car and as has been said it may be necessary to validate the insurance.
They could use the licence info for some devious means - name, address, licence number. Likewise you could use their car to rob a bank.
When hiring a car I have been asked to leave an imprint of my credit card and copy passport (abroad). When staying in hotels I have been asked for similar.
Sometimes these things are reasonable/necessary. I guard my personal I D more than most but I wouldn't have an issue with this.
They are entitled to take a copy, and are most likely required to to satisfy their insurance and liabilities.
For example, if you crash or damage the car, or clock up speeding or other traffic offences, they would need the details from your driving licence for the period that you were responsible for the vehicle, and therefore, they would keep this information on file for a period of time after off hiring the vehicle as tickets usually take a while to come through.
The only way the copy of your licence might be 'misused' in any way is by an employee on some illegal mission of his own & if this was going to happen, that employee could simply make another copy so it would make no difference whether they return your licence copy or not. When they copy your licence, the copy could well also be on their computer system anyway making the return of paper copy irrelevant anyway.
& even after 9yrs, no they don't know you, you could have been nicked for drink driving last month for all they know.
They also have your personal data and are legally obliged to destroy it once they no longer have any need for it. As the data subject you could ask them when they are going to destroy that data, or return the document to you. They also have a duty to give you details of why they are holding that data and so should have given you full details of what they want it for. As you did not know why they wanted that information, I take it that they broke this part of the Data Protection Act. They won't be the first or the last to fail to understand their duties under that Act.
Phil
------------- If you're not on a fell your wasting your feet and for 2014 it's.......Feb Castleton Mar North Yors Moors; Apr Sutton on Sea; May Thirsk; Jun Clapham/Riverside (Lakes); July Wharfedale; August Crakehall; Sept Knaresborough; Oct Wirral Park/Clitheroe