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| » New report blasts companies over ‘grey vehicles’ |
THE rise in employees using their own cars on business has created a fleet of ‘unchecked and unmanaged’ drivers who are a potential health and safety timebomb for employers, according to a new report from business car specialists Arval. The ‘policing and management’ of staff who use their own cars on business - the so-called ‘grey fleet’ - ‘does not, unfortunately, reach the high standards that many employers bring to their company car fleets’, says the report. Called ‘The Grey Fleet -The origins, risks and impact of non-company car business driving in the UK’, the report highlights a catalogue of shortcomings by businesses, particularly those operating small and medium-sized fleets. With the ‘grey fleet’ amounting to more than one million cars, Arval warns that with many potentially poorly maintained and incorrectly insured, driver safety is at risk, particularly with the introduction in April next year of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act. Initially suggesting that some management failures maybe the result of responsibilities being either ‘overlooked’ or ‘misunderstood’, the report, concludes: ‘Many have wrongly assumed that all responsibility passes to the employee once that employee has opted out [of a company car] or is using their own vehicle for business journeys. Others have almost certainly chosen to use the cash option as an opportunity to wash their hands of the aggravation of running a car fleet.’ Effectively, following a survey of more than 400 fleet managers and other managers with fleet responsibilities, it appears that the growth of the ‘grey fleet’ in the last decade has ‘undermined safe business driving’. Jenny Powley, Arval director of corporate groups, said: ‘Relying on employees to keep their vehicles properly maintained and with the correct documentation leaves a company severely exposed to legal action through negligence and failing to meet duty of car obligations.’ The report reveals that only 8% of employers recognise that the ‘grey fleet’ leaves them highly exposed to duty of care risk, while 45% regard their exposure as being minimal and 15% as having no exposure at all. Small fleets, says the report, were least able to recognise their risk exposure. Although the report does not apportion any blame for the unsafe management of ‘grey fleet’ drivers - many of whom have taken a cash-based alternative to the traditional company car - it does highlight a number of anonymous comments from fleet managers which ‘read like cries for help’. As a result, says the report: ‘It is clear that employers need to take ‘grey fleet’ issues more seriously, from an employee health and safety standpoint. This cannot be done by isolating duty of care within the fleet management function. It requires a long-term strategy and commitment of time from the highest levels of an organisation.’ The report highlights that: • 37% of companies say 10% of their business mileage is clocked up by ‘grey fleet’ vehicles; 13% said it was greater than 26% • Insurance is the biggest issue of concern with own vehicle driving, according to 32% of employers; 23% said it was vehicle roadworthiness, maintenance and reliability • 53% of companies do not check if ‘grey fleet’ vehicles have business insurance • 34% of companies do not check the licences of ‘grey fleet’ drivers - the first indication that the grey fleet is not subject to the same rigorous procedures that apply to company cars • 74% of companies do not check if ‘grey fleet’ vehicles over three years old have a valid MoT certificate, with firms operating fewer than 50 vehicles most at fault • 83% of businesses have no procedures in place to check |
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