Licence Check has launched an online audit module, Driver Audit, in anticipation of an increase grey fleet drivers due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Driver Audit will be launched at Virtual Fleet & Mobility Live, taking place across November 17-19, where visitors can join a live demo webinar.

Licence Check says that growing numbers of employees using their own cars on company business, rather than public transport, will increase the need for companies to carry out more robust checks to maintain compliance with legal obligations and health and safety regulations.

Terry Hiles, general manager at Licence Check, said: “With more employees becoming home based and intending this to be permanent, reduced numbers of company cars and with those that do come into the office avoiding public transport, the only obvious alternative must be people increasingly using their own cars for business purposes.

“The grey fleet issue should become an area of increasing concern in the ‘new normal’ and robust systems need to be in place to ensure businesses are compliant and fully covered. Doing nothing should not be an option.”

A Driving for Better Business survey last year (2019) revealed that 60% of senior managers didn’t know the size of their grey fleet and 53% thought it wasn’t their responsibility to know this or to manage these drivers.

Hiles said: “If there is an explosion in grey fleet numbers, more people will be in their own vehicles with poor or totally inadequate management systems in place. There is clearly a hard-core of senior managers or directors that, despite being told this is their responsibility to manage, still ignore the problem or refuse to believe it is something they need to address.

“They really need to audit their employees to confirm who is driving for business, establish the vehicle they use for this and whether it is company or privately owned to get a handle on the size of the problem. The results will then clarify how it needs to be addressed.”

There will also be a prize draw to enter at Virtual Fleet & Mobility Live where one winner will receive 500 driver audits for free.

You can register for free admission to the virtual conference here.

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