Motoring law expert Andy Cash says that having employees off the road and unable to fulfil their roles can affect logistics, staffing rotas, morale and profitability. Even smaller-scale penalties carry associated costs in lost time and fine costs.
In response the company has issued the following advice:
What your team does:
Making sure all employees are aware of basic motoring law provisions, and their responsibilities on the road is one of the best ways of reducing convictions amongst company drivers.
A full briefing, ideally by external professionals, should reinforce the following the areas of motoring law to all drivers:
- The importance of regular vehicle checks – ideally drivers using a van for business should complete a daily walk around check of their vehicle.
- The dangers of “distraction” – all drivers should be briefed on adequately planning their journeys and treating driving as part of their employee responsibilities.
- Awareness of drug and drink drive rules – in addition to strong warnings in relation to drug and drink driving in company time, employees should also be made aware of morning-after driving and testing procedures.
- Necessary steps where there has been an accident – all drivers must be fully aware of the duty to stop and report, and the consequences of not properly reporting matters.
What your company does:
As a business, managing your teams and their driver records is a key part of maintaining low incident levels, benefiting the company through lower premiums and less wastage of employee time. Stringent record keeping and document checking is also key to minimising company liability in case of any incident.
- Implement regular checks to ensure that all relevant documents are up to date and that staff meet insurance requirements.
- Use new DVLA online facilities to check (with staff consent) that all licences are current and up to date, and that the company is aware of any new convictions.
- Ensure that proper systems are in place to identify drivers of company vans, to manage notices of intended prosecution and any driver points to avoid the liability of the company, its managing director or responsible officer.
- Where appropriate, use technology such as trackers and telemetrics to reduce risk – these can also have the added benefit of reduced insurance premiums.
- Take early legal advice to protect key personnel. A motoring legal expert may be able to achieve a successful result through use of exceptional hardship arguments and special mitigation.
- Make sure employee driver records are an integral part of the business’ overall HR records. This allows the company to directly identify any health issues which may impact on an employee’s ability to drive.
Cartwright King offers a free Road Show workshop aimed to help both a business and its staff deal with the complex issues that motoring offences can raise. The session, open to companies of 50 or more employees, assists staff in becoming more aware of how to be safe, legal and effective drivers. The free-of-charge workshop takes no more than 90 minutes and can be run on the business’ premises at lunchtime or after work. For further information on the Cartwright King’s Road Show, please email [email protected]
