BY STEVE MOODY
There has been a massive surge in thenumber of companies reviewing their duty-of-care procedures for grey fleet drivers inadvance of the Corporate Manslaughter Act, which comes into force next week. According to research published this week, nearly three-quarters of fleets arecurrently involved in, or have completed, a review process on drivers who use their owncars for business. This is in stark contrast tosix months ago, when only a quarter hadtaken any action. The findings are part of leasing giant Arval’s regular research into the subject,and shows that fleet managers are takingsteps to ensure their firms and employeesare adequately covered before the new Act. The survey found that since the originalresearch in October 2007, 46% of respon-dents are currently reviewing their grey fleet duty of care, and a further 22% have already completed a review. Of these, 9% have not only completed a review but have already implemented the necessary changes Jenny Powley, Arval director, large corpo-rate group, said: “Our original findingsshowed that grey fleet vehicles are not subject to the same rigorous reporting andinspection procedures as company cars, so it is encouraging that this new research hashighlighted that the grey fleet safety messageis starting to have an effect.”However, the figures show that whilereviews are taking place, practical action inkey areas is only slowly starting to takeeffect. In the most vulnerable areas for grey fleets, 6% more businesses are now checkingthat drivers have the correct insurance, while 9% more are asking for an MoT certifi-cate for vehicles more than three years oldand whether the vehicles are serviced at regular intervals.“Grey fleet vehicles that are unsafe andnot fit for purpose put employees and other road users at risk, so are a big concern tous,” said Ms Powley.“It’s also important to remember that a safe, well-driven fleet will be more cost effec-tive and less environmentally damaging.” Although companies have a duty of care totheir drivers and should be aware of theconsequences of the Corporate Manslaugh-ter Act and health and safety laws, it is not entirely up to fleet managers to police theroadworthiness and fitness for purpose of grey fleet vehicles: the Highway Code isexplicit that it is the driver’s responsibility toensure their vehicle is roadworthy, regularly serviced, taxed and insured for use.
■
Advice for grey fleet operators is part of the Risk in Fleet conference agenda on April 22.See page 2.
Go green,save cash
Convincingthe board
p20-21
Road Angelto WIN!
Sat-nav systemworth £500 upfor grabs
p31
NEWSP5ROAD TESTP17CAREERSP25
Businessdrivers aremore likely totailgate andspeed onmotorwaysand residential roads, a survey has found. Three-quarters of at-work driversadmit to speeding on motorways.
Volkswagenpaved the way for a range of low-emissioncars with itssuccessful PoloBlueMotion. Now it has launched the Golf BlueMotion into the lower-medium sector. We test it against its key fleet rivals.
A holiday anywherehot and sunny wouldsuit Toomey Opticar accounts co-ordinator Roberta Lowes at themoment. Find out more about her inour Settling Incolumn.
FleetNews
Business motoring strategy and finance
03.04.08£2.25fleetnews.co.uk
H E L P I N G Y O U R U N A
C H E A P E R C L E A N E R S A F E R
F L E E T
fleetnews@emap.com
TOP STORIES ONLINE
■
Check insurance details withthe MID
■
120g/km: print off or share critical changesto CO
2
-based tax
■
Get all the news to your desktop with our RSS feeds
Low-carbonwinners
Contract hiresurvey
p2223
The Government has claimed that the UK is “making progress” oncutting greenhouse gas emissions.However, environment secretary Hilary Benn said that there is stillmuch work to do.His comments followed thepublication of provisional statistics for greenhouse gas emissions for 2007, which showed a drop of 2%over the previous year. Thisequates to a reduction of 13 milliontonnes of CO
2
.“These figures show we aremaking progress in cutting emissions and are on target to gobeyond our Kyoto targets. But there’s much to do at home andabroad if we are to going to avert dangerous climate change,” saidMr Benn. “But while the Govern-ment can provide encouragement and incentives, we also needindividuals and businesses to dotheir bit to cut their carbon footprint because it’s only by all of us tackling climate change that we will achieve success.”However, the estimates fail totake into account high polluters,such as the amount of CO
2
emitted from international flights taking off and landing at UK airports.In addition, the final estimates will not be published for another 10 months and the typical accuracy of these figures is put at within 1%. A Department for the Environ-ment, Food and Rural Affairsspokesman said: “Although for any given year considerable uncertain-ties may surround the emissionsestimates for a pollutant, it isimportant to note that trends over time are likely to be much morereliable.”
Fleets take actionahead of new law
Procedures over grey fleets reviewed ahead of Corporate Manslaughter Act
■
46% of businesses are reviewing their fleet duty of care.
■
12% of businesses completed a review in the past four months; changes being made.
■
More than 9% completed a review in the past four months; changes in place.
■
Since the last piece of research, 6% more respondents are checking that drivers of non-company vehicles driven on company business have the correct insurance.
■
Since the latest research, 9% more respondents require drivers of private cars driven oncompany business to produce MoT certificates for vehicles more than three years old.
■
Since the 2007 research, 9% more respondents check whether vehicles driven oncompany business are serviced at regular intervals.
■
16% of businesses do not plan to take any action regarding their fleet duty of care.
■
16% of businesses are not aware of the Corporate Manslaughter Act.
Source: Arval
FLEET
ACTION
Governmenthails CO
2
cuts
More firms are now asking whether greyfleet vehicles are being regularly serviced
Don’t delay
Fleets should not use thedelay in introducing theincrease in fuel duty as anexcuse to postpone action onpetrol and diesel costs. Cfcsays that a structuredapproach to fuel manage-ment should be adopted assoon as possible by fleets who have not done so.
Bakeries contract
Allied Bakeries, a subsidiary of AssociatedBritish Foods, hasappointed Zenith VehicleContracts to manage its380-car fleet on a fully-outsourced basis. AlliedBakeries will own the vehicles outright, while Zenith provides mainte-nance and accident management services as well as hire cars.
Growth plan
With the approval of joint venture partners Athlon Car Lease International andLloyds TSB Autolease,Brussels-based Fleet Synergy International (FSI)has begun rolling out plansto grow the business by more than 40% in 2008.
Chauffeur drive
Chauffeur Drive ’08 willtake place at FarnboroughFive on April 20-21. Theevent is solely for members of the trade andconsists of three shows –a driving experience, a car exhibition and aneducational programmecovering the businessside of the industry.
Lloyds in news
Lloyds TSB Autolease hasbecome sole supplier tolease 1,700 Vauxhall vehiclesto regional newspaper publisher Newsquest in a four-year contract. Lloyds TSB Autolease developed a flexible finance leasepackage tailored specifically for the contract.
NEWSIN BRIEF
203.04.08
www.fleetnews.co.uk
ppl/ppgDIESEL
..............................115.4/525
SUPER UNLEADED
........113.5/516
UNLEADED
......................107.1/487
FOUR STAR
......................109.3/497
LPG
......................................55.3/251
UK FUEL
PRICES
EVENTS
ROUND-UP
Expert case study on fatal crash experience
A leading fleet manager whoexperienced a police investiga-tion following a fatality involvingone of his drivers will speak about it to the industry for the first timelater this month. The presentation, to take placeat the Risk in Fleet conference at the National Motorcycle Museumon April 22, reveals the behind-the-scenes efforts that can keepfleets safe from prosecution whenthe worst happens.Freddie Watts, fleet manager of Office Depot, will describe hisexperiences when one of hisdrivers became the first in theUK charged with causing deathby dangerous driving while usinga mobile phone in 2004. Theemployee was jailed for three years.Part of the investigation lookedat the firm’s fleet policy andparticularly its approach tomobile phone use. The court heard that the company had a strict policy outlawing the use of hand-held mobile phones whiledriving. It also fitted vehicles with hands-free kits, but on theday of the accident, the driver was in a different vehicle without a kit available. Watts’ presentation is one of a number of case studies at theconference designed to help fleet operators respond to the new Corporate Manslaughter Act.
■
For details, log on to www.riskinfleet.co.uk
BY JOHN MASLEN
A fleet manager who slashed acci-dent rates and reduced costs witha zero tolerance approach to vehicle maintenance has hailedthe scheme as “the best thing Ihave ever done as a fleet manager”.Chuck Ives, head of fleet for Network Rail, introduced a groundbreaking scheme to ban vehicles from the road if drivershad not brought them in for servicing on time. The scheme is part of a widerange of initiatives focused onsafety that has led to a 30% reduc-tion in accidents and a significant reduction in fleet costs.Savings are being achieveddespite the extra costs involved inpolicing vehicle maintenancemore closely on the 8,000-vehiclefleet.“We are achieving a change indriver culture with this approach. Accidents are down and costs aredown. It is the best thing I haveever done as a fleet manager,”said Mr Ives. “We are spendingless by doing more. If a hire vehicle is needed because one of our vehicles hasn’t been brought in for servicing and has beentaken off the road, then the costsgo on the budget of the depart-ment responsible. They soon start taking notice.”Mr Ives said management support had been vital in ensur-ing the success of the scheme andbacked calls made in
Fleet News
for fleets to invest in formal train-ing for their staff. The entire eight-strong fleet team at Network Rail has quali-fied for a Certificate of Profes-sional Competence.“They are all professionals andstudied in their own time. Thecompany paid for it, but I wouldestimate we have made back our investment ten times over throughimproved performance,” addedMr Ives, who will be one of theexpert speakers giving a detailscase study on his fleet at theannual Risk in Fleet Conference(
see panel below
).
Zero tolerancesecret of success
With the news that all residentialareas of Portsmouth are about tobecome 20mph zones, other city councils are now consideringfollowing suit.By the spring, vehicles onevery residential street in Ports-mouth will be limited to 20mph. This will make Portsmouth City Council the first in Britain tomake all its residential roads20mph.Now the initiative, which isfunded by the Government andaimed at reducing the number of accidents in the city, hasprompted Norwich City Councilto confirm it is exploring a similar scheme. Other councils areexpected to confirm similar plansin the coming weeks. Alex Bentley, Portsmouthcouncil’s executive member for traffic and transportation, said:“We’re sending a message to thereckless minority of drivers that they must drive safely.” While all Portsmouth’s resi-dential roads will have a 20mphlimit, most main routes will keeptheir current limits.Drivers’ lack of understanding of the links between CO
2
, taxes andfuel costs could be hitting fleet budgets as well as their attemptsto reduce carbon emissions. A survey of more than 2,000drivers, most of whom werecompany car drivers, found that only 17% think that they will saveon fuel costs if they change their driving habits to produce lesscarbon dioxide. The survey, carried out by Alphabet, also found that just 15%of drivers plan to drive a lower-CO
2
car in future to save on tax.In addition, 88% of drivers didnot know how much CO
2
their car emits, and 76% did not know what Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) bandtheir car falls into.“Our survey suggests that eight out of 10 drivers are vague about the financial advantages of reduc-ing CO
2
,” explained Alphabet director Mark Sinclair.“This implies that fleets areunlikely to benefit from cost savings offered by running moreefficient vehicles unless they havestrict policy guidelines in place toensure that employees drivegreener cars.”For example, drivers who opt for cars emitting 145g/km of CO
2
instead of a typical 165g/km standto cut their fuel use by 12% andtheir company car tax by 20%. Their employer would alsobenefit from lower businessmileage costs and National Insur-ance, future savings throughlower VED and more advanta-geous writing-down provisions oncars emitting less than 160g/kmof CO
2
.“Much more needs to be doneto make drivers aware of the linksbetween CO
2
and the costs of motoring – particularly the fuelthey use and the taxes they pay,”added Mr Sinclair.
Cities plan20mphlimits
Drivers’ ignorance could cost fleets dear
fleetnews@emap.com
Chuck Ives: groundbreaking
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Fleets requiring their employeesto drive abroad have been warnedthat drivers caught breakingtraffic laws in any EU member state can in future be prosecutedin their home country. This could mean an Englishdriver caught by camera jumpinga red light in Paris, for example,can be later prosecuted in the UK.In addition, drivers will find it much harder to evade prosecu-tion by failing to give foreignpolice their correct details. As part of a European Commis-sion initiative, all 27 EU countries will establish a computerisedsystem enabling the swift transfer of car registration details for motorists detected for offencessuch as speeding, not using a seatbelt or jumping a red light. At present, although errant drivers are liable to pay fines or suffer other punishments if they break traffic laws in foreign EUcountries, this often does not happen because of practical diffi-culties regarding enforcement.If they are stopped by thepolice, they often receive only on-the-spot fines. And if their crimesare detected by camera, many escape punishment altogether.Now, under the new rules, this will not happen. “It would be of particular value in relation to roadtraffic offences detected by auto-mated devices where the identity of the offender cannot immedi-ately be established, such asspeeding or failing to stop at a redtraffic light,” said the EuropeanCommission. “It is also useful toenable the follow-up of offences where verification of the vehicleregistration details may be neces-sary, where the vehicle has beenstopped. This is notably the casefor drink-driving.”Under the proposed computer network – which will be intro-duced within two years – an errant driver’s home country would haveto transmit on request the makeand model of the vehicle, the driv-er’s name, address, date and placeof birth for private cars and, wherea fleet car is involved, company details.“Drivers will now know that they have the threat of sanctionshanging over them,” said EUtransport commissioner JacquesBarrot.“It’s a system that is quick andsimple, which will provide thenumber plate and address of theowner of the offending car.”It would “help to make anappreciable reduction in thecurrent number of people killedin road accidents”, he added.
Future plans
The Highways Agency haspublished its annualbusiness plan, whichpromises it will complete15 major road schemes –including the M1 J6a to J10 widening scheme – by next year. It also outlines plansto award a £5 billion,30-year private financecontract to design, buildand operate more than 63miles of the M25.
Driver care
A duty-of-care tool hasbeen launched, aimed at helping fleet managerssafeguard against prosecution. TheNavman module compelsdrivers to carry out a vehicle check in line withtheir company’s healthand safety policy, every day, before they start work.
Safety move
The International Organisa-tion for Standardisation hascreated a committee todevelop a global standardfor the manufacture and useof road traffic safety management systems, which should help fleetscreate policies to prevent and handle road accidentsinvolving their staff.
Carbon challenge
Cenex and the JohnLewis Partnership havelaid down an eco vanchallenge, which involveslow carbon vehiclesbeing trialled by the JohnLewis fleet over the next two to three years. Thechallenge is open tosuppliers of a range of low carbon vehicles, andthe results will be usedto specify the next generation of vehicles tobe purchased for thepartnership.
Transport Bill
The controversial Local Transport Bill, which willallow for localised conges-tion charging, has had itssecond reading in theCommons. It will have itsthird and final readingbefore entering the ‘pingpong’ stage, where it passesbetween the two houses,before becoming law by theend of the year.
IN BRIEF
www.fleetnews.co.uk
03.04.083
fleetnews@emap.com
UK courts may hearEuropean offences
Traffic infringements abroadcould catch up with UK drivers
HR managers should adopt theproactive approach now beingused by many of their fleet manager colleagues in respect of their company’s duty of care obli-gations to drivers. While managing a company’sduty of care towards drivers hastraditionally been the job of thefleet manager, HR managers arenow increasingly involved in fleet decision making.However, new research fromBosch reveals that while HR direc-tors have a key role to play in deci-sion making, when it comes tomanaging fleet safety concernsthey are not as proactive as fleet managers. Thirty per cent of respondentsreported that HR directors had a significant involvement in fleet management. But while they saidthat many HR managers believethat it is important to ensure safe working conditions for drivers by providing a safe vehicle, many have still to take any action.“While we are delighted to seethat many fleets are taking their driving for work responsibilitiesseriously, there are still somemanagers sticking their heads inthe sand,” said Caroline Scurr,RoadSafe Driving for Better Busi-ness spokesman.“We encourage HR directorsand other decision makers whoare yet to acknowledge the risksto take action now.”
HR managers must help manage driver safety
Traffic light enforcement camerascould increase car crashes rather than protect motorists, accordingto a report from the University of South Florida’s College of PublicHealth, in the USA.Its researchers say the camerasprovoke motorists into makingabrupt stops, which causes morecrashes.Florida is considering introduc-ing the cameras across the state,but study lead author Barbara Langland-Orban warned that thedevices may be particularly dangerous there.“If used in Florida, red light cameras could potentially createeven worse outcomes due to thestate’s high percentage of elderly who are more likely to be injuredor killed when a crash occurs,”she said.Instead, the report recom-mended engineering improve-ments that address signal visibility, timings, wet roads andtraffic flow problems, as way toprevent red light running. The study added that trafficfatalities caused by red light running, account for less than 4%of Florida’s yearly traffic deaths, while road injury rates havedropped 33% in nine years, without widespread camera use.
Traffic camerascould be a danger
Incentive schemes rather thanthe threat of penalties shouldbe used to encourage company car drivers to opt for greener vehicles.Emmanuel Roche, head of international sales for Master-lease, feels that not enoughbusinesses currently rewarddrivers for going green.“The problem for busi-nesses is that with greater choice in company car schemes, drivers don’t always want greener vehicles or to betold how they can drive,” hesaid. “All of the environmentallegislation seems to be focusedon penalising drivers but toeffect change it is much easier to encourage drivers to makethe decisions you want themto,” he said.“If you want someone tochoose a more environmen-tally friendly vehicle, why not give them cash back for doing it, or offer them a much higher spec vehicle so they get a really good car but with lower emissions?” he asks.“If you relate a change to a benefit, you will meet lessresistance and you shouldeven be greeted with accep-tance and enthusiasm.”
Carrot over stick forgreener, safer drivers
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
More From This User
Notes
Load more
