Specialist transport provider the HATS Group is using the DAVIS solution from Licence Check to meet all its driver compliance requirements after fleet growth from the Covid pandemic.
The group is acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading transport services providers for patient healthcare, mental health, and home to school transport for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
It run an 800-strong multi-class vehicle fleet of cars, ambulances, minibuses and coaches with more than 1,000 drivers, and provides support to the NHS, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Mental Health Trusts, Local Authorities and a range of other public sector bodies and private medical institutions.
The group provides over two million passenger movements a year and has seen strong growth in the last two years due to contract wins, service expansion, new locations across the UK and an increased reliance by the NHS and local authorities on its services during Covid.
As a result of this growth, its fleet and drivers have grown significantly in number, heightening the need to manage the associated driving risk more efficiently and in a more transparent manner.
Its previous manual system was deemed no longer fit for purpose and the group decided to opt for an automated system.
DAVIS was selected three months ago, and the group has now onboarded almost all its drivers in record time across some nine different locations around the UK, including Manchester, Birmingham, Aberystwyth, Haverford West and some 17 hospitals across London.
Drivers now have to complete, and successfully pass, assessment days before being added to the system and have to provide consent via SMS message or email for their licences to be checked – which is then carried out monthly on an ongoing basis.
Director of shared services, James Graydon said that the switch to DAVIS allowed checking to be carried out far more quickly, effectively and efficiently.
“It is very rare to find a system as efficient, that does exactly what it says on the tin and that supports the operation as effectively as DAVIS does. As we are working with vulnerable adults and children for much of the time, quality assurance is very important for us and DAVIS provides us with that,” he said.
Initial discussions with the firm’s insurance broker showing the new system have also proved highly positive and DAVIS will help with future premium negotiations.
The HATS Group is also considering taking advantage of Licence Check’s new free-to-use drivers’ CPC Hours feature to keep training records up to date and manage the risk around applicable drivers.
Keith Allen, managing director at Licence Check, commented: “Thanks to DAVIS, the HATS Group is now effectively managing a very complex fleet risk and compliance picture across a large number of locations around the country with over a thousand drivers.
“As well as improving the monitoring and measurement of its driver risk, it may well also benefit from good news in terms of insurance premiums going forward,” he concluded.
