VGroup urges fleets to remain compliant when driving in post-Brexit Europe

VGroup International is urging fleet decision-makers whose company car drivers are due to take their vehicles abroad to ensure they remain complaint post-Brexit.

Drivers’ obligation to be in possession of a car’s V5C vehicle registration document - or VE103 if a vehicle is leased or hired - remains unchanged when and if the UK leaves the European Union on March 29, but vGroup International is also reminding fleet operators to ensure employees driving on the continent are fully legal.

This means:

• Ensuring vehicle number plates are compliant or a car displays a GB sticker
• Drivers are in possession of an International Driving Permit
• Carrying a Green Card to prove the vehicle being driven is insured.

Depending on which countries vehicles are being driven in mandatory equipment ranging from a warning triangle and reflective jacket/waistcoat to a first aid kit, and, specifically in France, a breathalyser must be carried.

Martyn Nash, chairman of vGroup International, which currently supplies number plates to the fleet market through its vPlate division as well as all key vehicle accessories, said: “It is essential that fleet operators and company car drivers think ahead about what documentation is needed when taking a vehicle abroad.

“Whether the UK leaves the European Union with without a deal on March 29, it is imperative that vehicles and drivers are legal and do not fall foul of the law.”

Nash added: “Every year we are asked by fleet operators to provide mandatory accessories to ensure employees driving their company cars in Europe remain on the right side of the law, but this year whether as a result of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit - or even if an agreement is reached - it means that further driver documentation is almost certainly required and that vehicle number plates are legal.”