Grounds for complaint or not?

[janeybooks]

If I applied for a job where the description clearly said full clean driving license essential, and they've recruited someone who can't drive, have I any reason to be cross?

You might be cross, but there's nothing you can do about it unless you can show that you were discriminated against on grounds of sex, ethnicity or disability, I think.

You can be cross if you feel that way.

However putting 'driving licence essential' if it technically isn't is bad practice and leaves the employer vulnerable to a disability discrimination claim. Unless it's a driving job, putting 'ability to travel widely round x area' or similar is better. If they were able to recruit someone without the ability to drive, clearly that requirement wasn't actually essential anyway. Perhaps this person can't drive because of a disability and challenged them on it. The employer has lost out more generally as the requirement to have a driving licence may have prevented other good candidates from applying. Hopefully they have learned this lesson.

Either way, they will have recruited the best person available for the job. Perhaps there was no one who fulfilled all the criteria so they had to compromise on something. If that's the case, then driving is a good one to compromise on. Better to have someone with all the skills and experience necessary without a driving licence than someone who can drive but is not as suitable for the role.

You have no grounds to complain about a company's recruitment decisions unless you feel you have been discriminated against. I can't see how recruiting someone without a driving licence when you have one would be discrimination of any kind I'm afraid.