Running a grey fleet presents a fleet manager with a multitude of challenges. Even though employees are using their own cars for work journeys, their employer still has a duty of care to ensure these cars are fit for purpose, are safe, are properly insured and are driven only by those who are licensed to do so.

The HSE states that “health and safety law to on-the-road work activities as to all work activities and the risks should be effectively managed within a health and safety system”.

RoSPA recommends in its Driving For Work – Own Vehicles guide that employers must conduct suitable risk assessments and put in place all ‘reasonably practicable’ measures to ensure that work-related journeys are safe, staff are fit and are competent to drive safely and vehicles are fit for purpose and in a safe condition.

These duties of care apply to grey fleet drivers as to company vehicle drivers. 

The challenge is that these are employees’ own cars, they are not company cars. Getting employees to show their licence and prove they have business-use insurance can prove difficult enough, so how does a fleet manager introduce vehicle standards such as a minimum EuroNCAP safety rating or a maximum vehicle age limit or even maximum CO2 emissions levels to the grey fleet?

Such scenarios were discussed recently at a grey fleet workshop hosted by Essex County Council, which itself has some 19,000 grey fleet drivers.

The workshops, which are funded by the Highways Agency, aim to outline grey fleet responsibilities and provide solutions to some of the challenges, explained Elaine Appleby, Essex senior road safety officer."

“This is about helping companies to meet their responsibilities,” she said. “Grey fleet is a good name as there are some very grey areas.”

Some issues can be easily resolved by requiring grey fleet drivers to adhere to the same policies that apply to company vehicle drivers. Therefore, using mobile phones, driving when tired or driving under the influence of drink or drugs should already be banned under a company’s existing policy.

However, as Paul Williams, who is responsible for health and safety at the adult learning and library operations at Essex County Council, said, there are some areas that fall out of the typical fleet scenario.

For example, Williams is responsible for some 1,000 volunteer drivers who use their own vehicles for business journeys. “These drivers are not paid for mileage, so are they still classed as grey fleet drivers?” he asks. “If we don’t pay them for mileage, it is sometimes difficult for us to tell them they must pay for business-use insurance.”

These drivers, while not being reimbursed for mileage are still grey fleet drivers and therefore must have business-use insurance. “If they have an accident and the insurer discovers they were driving for work – even voluntarily – their cover could be invalidated,” warns Appleby. “Therefore it is in their interest as well as the council’s, to ensure they have the correct cover.”

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