Barhale has overhauled its legal and safety compliance for its 1,200 drivers with the help of the cloud-based DAVIS platform from Licence Check.

Introduced following a recommendation from the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), the solution is being used to check the licences of the firm’s drivers on a regular basis instantly and with total accuracy.

Barhale, a privately owned civil engineering and infrastructure specialist, operates a mixed fleet of around 1,000 commercial vehicles and company cars, with 60% of the overall fleet electrified. Its company cars operate under a sub-75g/km CO₂ policy and average just 15.5g/km.

With almost 1,200 drivers, including nominated drivers such as spouses, accurate licence checking is an essential compliance requirement.

Prior to moving its licence-checking service to DAVIS in late spring, Barhale fleet and transport manager Nathan Phipps wanted to work with a dedicated specialist and further strengthen the company’s approach to driver compliance.

“Licence checking is a fundamental part of fleet management, so I wanted a more specialist solution that would give us greater visibility, quicker access to information and help take our compliance processes to the next level,” said Phipps.

As a long-standing FORS Gold-accredited operator, Barhale undergoes routine Bronze audits, during one of which the auditor made an advisory recommendation to consider using a specialist licence-checking provider.

Phipps undertook an extensive review of the DAVIS platform, its capabilities and how it could support the firm’s compliance requirements.

“Moving almost 1,200 drivers was a significant decision and required careful planning. We initially intended to start with around 60 drivers at our head office, but the implementation was so smooth and efficient that I was confident in moving ahead with a single national rollout,” explained Phipps.

He added that the move has been transformational.

“Now, at the click of a button, I can see each and every driver, all drivers’ licences, the points they hold, the type of points, drivers’ exemptions and restrictions, photocard licences that are about to expire and many more – all in one easy-to-read dashboard,” said Phipps.

“As well as the ease and speed of onboarding our drivers, a big plus has been single sign-on for all our drivers. I didn’t want to have another system log-in and another password, but now single sign-on with two factor authentication allows everyone to sign-in using their normal password with complete security. It has been huge for us and a massive leap forward,” he said.

The onboarding process, facilitated through electronically delivered driving licence mandates, went very smoothly for so many drivers and quickly identified those that were low to medium risk, who are now checked every six months.

Higher risk drivers, depending on the nature of and type of points on their licences, can now be checked more frequently, with the opportunity for training interventions to be put in place if required and where appropriate.

“It is not over-stressing the point to say that DAVIS has made a massive difference to how I manage driver risk in our fleet. And the level of reporting and clarity it provides is exceptional,” added Phipps.

Keith Allen, Licence Check managing director, commented: “One of the main advantages of our DAVIS platform, which now has over one million driver records on the system and has carried out over five million checks, is the visibility it gives of the fleet and all the drivers, their current status, and where exemptions exist and expiries are about to occur.

“Barhale operates a huge and disparate vehicle fleet, but the implementation of DAVIS has reduced what would otherwise be a time-consuming administrative task into one that is readily manageable, producing actionable analytics and exception reporting for the benefit of the fleet manager.”

Licence Check also continues to develop DAVIS further, adding a range of modules and enhancements to expand the solution from what was originally known as a pure licence checking operation to a comprehensive fleet management offering for car and van fleet operators.

“The feedback we get from users is that they really value our developments in this direction,” Allen added.