Driving Licence Changes - What it means for our customers

IMPORTANT UPDATE - June 2015 Driving Licence Changes

Due to the abolition of the paper counterpart driving licence by the DVLA, we now have to validate customers' driving licence details electronically which has led us to introduce new procedures for hiring vehicles to customers who use our own insurance cover (i.e. private individuals & small businesses who are only hiring a vehicle for a short period of time).
 
As of June 8th, 2015, we are unable to hire a vehicle to you if you do not/cannot produce your current driving licence and a valid, single-use licence check code obtained via the DVLA website.
 
The DVLA has introduced a service on its website which is free to use and enables individuals to provide proof of the validity & entitlement of their driving licence to companies such as vehicle rental operators by means of a unique code, without disclosing any unnecessary private information.
 
To use this service you will to provide the following 3 pieces of information:
 

1.  Your driving licence number

2.  Your National Insurance number

3.  Your postcode, as displayed on your driving licence

 
If you are hiring a vehicle from us within the next 72 hours, you can request your code from the DVLA in advance, which will significantly speed-up the process of collecting the vehicle from us.  We recommend that you do this at a convenient time prior to arriving at our hire depot.  At peak times, several hire customers trying to obtain codes from DVLA upon arrival will cause severe delays, so we have introduced an additional fee if you are unable to provide a valid DVLA Licence Check code upon arrival.
 
If you are hiring a vehicle from us which is covered by our insurance and you fail to produce a valid code when you arrive to collect the vehicle, we can assist you in obtaining a code, but this will incur a non-refundable flat-rate fee of £5 +VAT which will be added to the cost of your vehicle hire. 
If you fail to produce your physical driving licence at vehicle collection, we will be unable to hire you a vehicle.
 
We do not wish to impose this fee upon anyone, it is intended as a deterrent to customers arriving under-prepared which puts unecessary demands upon our hire staff.  This in turn has a  negative impacting upon the efficiency & quality of our service and overall customer experience.  Therefore we urge all private hirers to follow the steps below to ensure a swift and smooth vehicle handover without any additional costs:
 

Tutorial - how to request your free driving licence check code from the DVLA website

You can view the official DVLA guide, click here (opens a PDF file in a new window), or follow our 5-step pictorial below...

 

STEP 1:  Visit the DVLA "View your driving licence information" website at:  https://www.viewdrivingrecord.service.gov.uk/driving-record/licence-number

 

STEP 2:  Enter your details.  (click image for larger version)

STEP 3:   Select "Share your licence information".  (click image for larger version)

STEP 4:   Click "Create a code".  (click image for larger version)

STEP 5:   Find your code & take a note.  REMEMBER: the code is CASE SENSITIVE.  (click image for larger version)

To visit the DVLA website for more information on the changes to driving licences and the abolition of the paper counterpart, click here.
 

---

Vans & Trucks for hire to private individuals & small businesses

Whether you are a private indiviudal wishing to hire a van to move house/take items to the local tip/collect some DIY materials, or you are a small local business which occasionally needs to move a large item/hire a replacement vehicle while yours is being serviced, you probably don't have your own fleet insurance policy that covers hire vehciles.  Therefore you need an all-inclusive rental package with insurance cover & VAT included in the price.
 
That's why Maun Motors offer a wide range of commercial vehicles - from Car-derived Vans to 9 seat Minibuses to 7.5 tonne Box Vans - available for rental by private customers, traders & small businesses.
 
We have 24 hour and 4 hour all-inclusive rates available on many van & truck types.  For a ful list of the vehicles you can hire from us with insurance cover included, click here.

Maun Motors Self-Drive Installs Retrofit Anti-Fall or Fall-Arrest Webbing to Dropsides & Flatbed Lorries for its Truck Hire Customers

Utilising our own in-house body building workshops, Maun Motors can now install fall-arrest systems to our fleet of crane lorries, dropside and flatbed trucks, to help customers meet their health and safety commitments.  Upon request by an account customer, this safety equipment can be retro-fitted to an existing hire vehicle, or a new vehicle can be built to specification for a long-term rental contract.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, "Falls from vehicles are among the most common accidents involving workplace transport.", so more and more companies are looking to incorporate installation of fall prevention systems to their commercial vehicle fleet, including the rental and contract hire vehicles they operate. 
The two fall-arrest system designs we have produced so far incorporate different materials to suit individual customer requirements.

The first design features galvanised steel box section rails, which surround both sides anjd the rear of the load area.  The body pillars are extended and the bars attach to these by means of anti-luce fasteners.  This makes the ant-fall rails easy and quick to remove when access to the load area is required, but ensures a very robust fall prevention system.  Our design also incorporates a drop-down access ladder to allow operator access to the load area when required.  The downsides to this steel construction are additional weight (i.e. reduced payload) and, should any damage occur to the anti-fall rails, the replacement cost of manufacturing a new bespoke rail to fit.

Our steel rail fall-arrest system looks like this (click on images to enlarge):

The second configuration of system to prevent falls from vehicles incorporates nylon webbing tension straps, which again protect from falls over both sides and the rear of the vehicle.  Extended rear and centre pillars ensure that the straps remain in place and the tension of the straps can be controlled by the operator by means of a ratchet tensioning mechanism.  These straps are much more lightweight than the steel rail design and are designed to withstand regular use.  However, it is recommended that the ratchet and hook end-attachments are regularly lubricated and due to their construction the webbing straps can de prone to chaffing and cutting from cargo with sharp edges.  These straps are very economical, quick and easy to replace, should one become damaged.  To assist the operator/driver to access the load bed, removable grab-handles are located at access points and painted high-visibility yellow for ease of location.  Also, non-slip sections are fitted to the body side guards and side rave (again, painted in high-vis yellow) at all load area access points.

Our webbing strap fall-arrest system looks like this (click on images to enlarge):

If your company has requirements for renting a crane lorry, dropside or flatbed with a fall-prevention system fitted, then please call Maun Motors direct on 01773 810007 to discuss your requirements.

For further reading regarding the prevention of falls from vehicles, please visit the HSE website or download their online leaflet entitled Preventing Falls from Vehicles - Advice for workers.