Check your drivers’ licences or face a large fine

Statistics highlight that over 8 million UK drivers have 3 or more points on their licences. The authorities will check the licence of any driver who is involved in a serious or fatal road traffic accident.

If you don’t regularly check or verify your employees’ driving licences you are failing in your corporate duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Your company risks unlimited fines if your drivers are found to be on the road without a valid licence, or are ineligible to drive the vehicle in their control.

Employee driver checks should be an essential part of your risk assessment policy. Driving licence verification using the DVLA data should be undertaken on an annual basis.

These are 5 of some of the most important things you should be checking:

1. Do you take both paper and plastic copies of the DVLA licence for each driver every year?
2. Is the licence registered at the correct home address?
3. Does their licence category allow them to drive or tow with your vehicle?
4. How many penalty points are on their licence and do you assess higher risk drivers with 6 or more points?
5. Has the driver ever been banned previously and what was the reason.

At UK Fleet Manager we offer an online service direct with the DVLA to ensure your business is compliant and up to date with the latest driver data. Contact me if we can make a BIG difference to your company.

Mark James

o1527 910999

Mark.james@ukfleetmanager.co.uk

Creating better driving habits saves money – fact!

Getting staff to improve their driving techniques is guaranteed to deliver major savings on your vehicle running costs. Several studies have concluded that you can make significant savings on

• reduced fuel consumption
• lower insurance premiums
• general wear and tear of vehicles

SAFED has suggested that typical savings could be over 10%, but you may feel that spending money in this area is considered a luxury. However, investing now could see the cost recouped in less than six months.

BRAKE, the road safety charity, is also campaigning for companies to do more to improve driver’s awareness of safety issues — helping to reduce accident rates, and improve the overall safety of your drivers. This also addresses your corporate health and safety obligations.

These are some of the steps you could take now:

1. Introduce a compulsory driver assessment programme
2. Communicate the purpose and benefits of the programme
3. Monitor spend levels against each driver
4. Offer additional training to drivers
5. Maintain the corporate road safety message

UK Fleet Manager can help you with this and much more to make your business perform better. Contact me if you would to make a BIG difference to your company today.

Mark James
Mark.james@ukfleetmanager.co.uk

Do you know the true cost of vehicle accidents to your business?

When one of your company vehicles is involved in a road traffic accident you will be faced with some immediate costs such as insurance excess and replacement vehicle hire, but have you considered the hidden costs?

These costs are more difficult to quantify but taken together, the total cost of an accident can run to thousands of £££s. Have you considered 

• The cost in time taken to process the insurance claim and deal with third parties
• Time taken to reclaim for uninsured losses
• The cost of a driver being off work through injury
• The vehicle’s ‘downtime’ and any loss of business reputation
• Potential reduced resale value on a ‘repaired’ vehicle
• The impact on your insurance premiums at the next renewal

According to industry figures, 97% of all incidents are caused by driver error, meaning that they WERE avoidable.

UK Fleet Manager can help you draw up an effective Risk Management Policy and driver development programme to help you reduce and even eliminate these costs. Contact me if you would like to know more about how we do it.

Mark James
Mark.james@ukfleetmanager.co.uk

Drivers take serious risks by not checking their tyres regularly

How often do you inspect your company car tyres? Many of you never inspect the condition of your tyres and rely solely upon the garage to check. If you rely on fitting tyre pressure sensing equipment, be aware that they cannot report on tyre defects, or irregular wear.

A recent poll of company car drivers found that the majority of drivers did not even know how to check them properly. This could have serious consequences if a tyre is damaged or under-inflated. Michelin Fleet carried out a random check of over 3000 company vehicles and discovered that almost 50% of the vehicles either had one (or more!) illegal or under-inflated tyres.

So, do you check your tyres each week? This is recommended as a formal responsibility for drivers as part of their company vehicle policy. They should check the following every week:

• Check tyre pressures are correct for the tyre size and loads being carried
• Check the tread depth by feeling the wearing bar on the tyre
• Check for uneven tread wear on the outer edges and centre of the tyre
• Check for damage to the side walls
• Don’t forget to include the spare wheel

UK Fleet Manager can help you draw up an effective Company Vehicle Policy and communicate it to everyone involved. Contact me if you would like to know more about how we do it.

Mark James
Mark.james@ukfleetmanager.co.uk

Your business must take more control to offset rising fuel costs

You can expect your business’s fuel bills to continue to rise over the coming months as crude oil is reportedly set to reach $80 a barrel by the end of the year, as global demand reduces. This means you need to take vital action now to control what you are spending on fuel and monitor the day-to-day operation of your vehicles.

Although there are some very simple steps that can be taken to reduce how much fuel your vehicles use, many companies have not enshrined them in their company vehicle policy. In fact some smaller companies don’t even have clear instructions for their drivers to follow.

My top six tips to cut fuel use are:

1. reduce overall business journeys and work smarter
2. locate the cheapest supply
3. plan journeys and time of travel
4. audit all fuel purchases or, better still, use a fuel card
5. reduce vehicle weight
6. very importantly, check tyre pressures. 

At UK Fleet Manager, we work closely with fleets of all sizes and types to recommend fuel saving strategies. We help implement those changes with your drivers and obtain their crucial buy-in. 

Contact me to see how we could make a BIG difference to your fleet costs.

Mark James
Mark.james@ukfleetmanager.co.uk