Industry Hero Award for Northgate employee
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) have noted and commended Northgate Vehicle Hire’s Claire Piggott on developing, with support from IT Analyst Programmer Stephen Thompson, a pioneering safety-focused online vehicle recall system, earning her the title of 2009 BVRLA Industry Hero in the Commercial Vehicle category at the Association’s annual dinner.
![Claire Piggott with BVRLA Award[1]](http://www.fleetdirectory.co.uk/fleet-news/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ClairePiggottwithBVRLAAward1.jpg)
Claire, Recalls Administrator at Northgate, Britain’s largest vehicle rental company with a fleet of more than 60,000 vehicles at 75 locations across the UK, has been at Darlington-based Northgate for two years. She said: “I am absolutely delighted that my idea has won such a prestigious award. I am proud of the safety benefits it has given to the drivers of our vehicles.
“Historically the process for recalls was paper based, which was both time consuming and inefficient. This was proceeded with an excel spreadsheet where information was manually entered which was a full time administrative task and often prone to human error and time delays.
“I could see that there was an opportunity to introduce a new online system utilising Northgate’s in-house IT development team which could integrate with our existing company database. Having this new initiative implemented within our organisation assists our commitment to safety.”
BVRLA chief executive John Lewis said: “We are delighted with the positive reaction our members have given the BVRLA Industry Hero Awards in their first year. We received more than 30 entries from a wide range of companies, big and small. All of the candidates deserve recognition for their efforts and achievements, and it is a shame that we can only highlight three of them.
“Our industry’s workforce is one of its biggest strengths, and the BVRLA Annual Dinner is the perfect setting to celebrate this.”
In selecting the Northgate Online Recalls System as an Awards winner, the judges, led by BVRLA chairman Kevin McNally, said: “As well as being an outstanding safety initiative, Claire’s achievement helps to demonstrate that our industry continues to put the welfare of all road users at the heart of what it does.”
The benefits of the system include: Manufacturer vehicle recalls can now be identified on all fleet vehicles in real time enabling a significantly faster handling of the entire recall process; Administrative time is cut by 90%; Manufacturer recall details are received electronically and are therefore easily uploaded onto the Northgate system; The system advises whether recall-related mechanical work can be done in-house at Northgate’s own workshops or at a franchise dealer; Customer details can be retrieved online so recalled vehicles can easily be located with standard letter templates available on the system to use for customer communications.
Claire added: “A further key to the success of the Online Recalls System was making it simple so it could be used by anyone, regardless of their level of IT literacy.”
Northgate Marketing Director, Ross Clarkson said: “This is an excellent initiative which highlights how we encourage all staff to get involved in sharing best practice and improving the way we do business.”
“Vehicle recalls are at the centre of our customer safety policy and we will continue to focus on ensuring all recalls are completed quickly, correctly and efficiently.
“Our newly developed system further underlines our view that the safety of drivers and other road users is paramount and is why we are involved as a business champion for the ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign.
He added: “Some of this work was done in Claire’s own time demonstrating her commitment to implementing this new system, which has been instrumental in tackling the large number of manufacturer recalls.”
“Implementation also portrays our committed approach to the ongoing growth and personal development of our employees, who are encouraged to look into new ways of helping the business become safer and more efficient for our customers.”
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