A survey commissioned Manheim Auctions suggests that many drivers are confident of their ability to handle the tricky driving conditions despite not altering their style. More worryingly is that some motorists don’t believe they need to alter their driving style despite never having driven in snow before.

Drivers in Northern Ireland seem the most confident with 75 per cent of respondents believing that they are skilful drivers and can handle driving in all weather conditions meanwhile 41 per centof respondents in East Anglia admit that the snow does not cause them any issues whatsoever when behind the wheel.

But many have yet to experience driving in wintry conditions with 60 per cent of respondents in Wales, 45 per cent in London and 42 per cent in Yorkshire and Humberside admitted to have never driven in the snow.

“While it is good news that so many motorists have the confidence to drive in wintry conditions, driving in snow should not be underestimated as not only should you take extra care yourself but you should also be more aware of what is going on around you. However there will be occasions when driving in bad weather is not recommended and we urge drivers, whatever their confidence levels, to heed the advice given by motoring organisations,” said Craig Mailey, Marketing Director, Manheim Auctions.

The survey was conducted by One Poll with 3,000 respondents.

The new centre will be dedicated to managing and processing electric vehicle fleets; with a workshop and bodyshop technicians specialising in electric vehicles on hand ready to deal with battery-powered models. Additionally the centre will include a dedicated storage facility for electric vehicles along with a range of charging points – with the option to install bespoke charging points for individual manufacturer specifications.

Neil Burrows, Group Sales & Marketing Director comments: “This year, more manufacturers are bringing electric vehicles into their press and demonstration fleets and their presence in the sector will increase as fleet managers and business buyers need to evaluate new products as they come onto the market. Because of this, Paragon is investing in specialist training and facilities to embrace emerging technologies so that these vehicles can be effectively managed on behalf of fleet owners. We want to demonstrate that, with the right technical expertise, electric vehicles can be maintained and remarketed as easily as traditional vehicles.”

Andrew Hetzel, Managing Director at Paragon Fleet Solutions adds: “We are extremely pleased to announce the launch our new Centre of Excellence at Upper Heyford and look forward to managing and processing electric vehicles in the future – encouraging clean, green vehicles as a step in the right direction for UK fleet.”

Issuing their annual report, LeasePlan Corporation N.V kept the number of vehicles it manages stable at around the 1.3 million mark while net profit clocked in at €199m in 2010, compared to €165m the year before.

Vahid Daemi [pictured], Chairman and CEO of LeasePlan, said his company more than held its own in difficult economic times and reinforced its position as the world’s leading fleet and vehicle management company.

“That LeasePlan has reported a net profit in all three years since the onset of the crisis should be a source of great confidence to our shareholders and our investors,” he commented.

“Our track record of delivering results, through adversity and at all stages of the economic cycle, remains intact. At the same time, we have continued to be a stable partner to our clients.

“Taking all factors into consideration, 2010 was a year of recovery for LeasePlan where performance almost returned to pre-crisis levels.”

The full annual report is available now at leaseplan.com/annualreport2010

Launched by Fleet Logistics, the cutting edge fleet manager portal will provide international fleet clients with a comprehensive picture of all aspects of their fleet operation wherever they are in Europe.

The portal will go live next month with selected clients before, all being well, a full scale roll out later in the year over Fleet Logistics’ complete client base which covers 80,000 vehicles across Europe.

Thomas Emmert [pictured], Chief Operating Officer at Fleet Logistics, reckons this is just the first step.

“We have responded to demand from our fleet clients for this new, highly sophisticated portal, which provides the fleet manager with far greater control and insight into the fleet than before,” he said.

“We fully expect to add further features, enhancements and reports to the portal based on the feedback we receive from the first wave of fleet users. These will be drawn from those international fleet operators who identified the greatest need for this kind of new functionality in helping with the management of their fleets.”

The portal presents real time reports illustrating every aspect of the fleet from carbon footprint, makes and models of all vehicles to third party suppliers including leasing companies.

Another element of the portal analyses fleets through two distinct data channels, the first looking at the total operating cost of all elements of the fleet, and the other at the composition of the fleet by make and model of all vehicles. Fleet managers can also search for detailed fleet data, such as details of a driver, a contract or a vehicle.

The new portal includes an exception reporting facility which creates alerts to show when certain events have occurred that may need a reaction by the fleet operator. These can be triggered by certain incidents not taking place, such as drivers failing to submit mileage information when required, or by actions taken outside fleet policy guidelines, such as drivers buying premium branded fuel rather than standard.

For more info, visit www.fleetlogistics.com

The authority, which operates a diverse fleet of over 200 vehicles, won the Public Safety Award for its road safety initiatives at this year’s Government Business Awards.

Organised by Government Business magazine in association with Roadsafe, judges were impressed by the council’s driving at work policy which was upgraded and implemented to ensure the safety of more than 1,600 employees who drive their own cars on business, as well as the safety of the public who use services such as community buses, mobile libraries and other services involving vehicles driven by council employees.

The number of road traffic incidents involving its vehicles were greatly reduced and the financial savings gained as a result of the increased focus on improved employee road safety, which include a 12% insurance premium saving. Extra cash has also been reinvested into Calderdale’s front line community services.

David Short, the council’s road safety project manager, said: “I was very proud to receive [the award] on behalf of Calderdale Council which is the culmination of a team effort involving everyone in the authority, ensuring the work force and the community are safe and in good hands.”

Judges said that as a result of the insurance savings ‘the council will be helping businesses in both public and private sectors by highlighting the advantages of road safety training and supervision’.

Core to the driving at work policy is a driver permit scheme that applies to all employees that drive on council business.

Michael Parish, co-director of the Driving for Better Business campaign, added: “Local authorities have a crucial role to play in reducing work-related road crashes. Not only are they major employers in their own right and therefore must have robust safe driving strategies in place, but they can also influence local public and private sector organisations to follow their lead.

“It is therefore very gratifying that the council’s driving at work strategy and the benefits it has delivered have been recognised as top class in the public sector.”

Sutton Council was also commended in the Public Safety category for its Safer Sutton Partnership.

The awards, which were hosted by BBC Television presenter Bill Turnbull, recognise effective business practices in the public sector.

Angry drivers worry fleet managers

Aggressive behaviour behind the wheel is the worst bad habit company drivers display according to fleet managers.

Fleet industry guide, FleetDirectory.co.uk polled fleets to assess which habit they viewed to be the worst among a list of five common driver problems.

Aggressive behaviour came top by a long way, taking 40 per cent* of the vote followed in second place by driving too fast taking 27 per cent of the vote.

Fleet managers were less concerned by poor pedal control, with ‘crunching gears’ attracting the least number of votes with 6 per cent of the vote and ‘braking too hard’ taking 7 per cent. A lack of tidiness put ‘making a mess in the car’ in third place with 20 per cent.

Despite the problems caused by other habits, it was short-tempered drivers that worried fleet industry folk the most and with good reason.

Losing your cool behind the wheel doesn’t just lead to excessive risk-taking; it encourages others to react in a similar way. Aggressive behaviour such as cutting another driver up can encourage revenge attacks from similarly infuriated drivers. As a result, past studies have hinted strongly at a correlation between accident history and aggression levels. According to a study from Responsible Young Drivers carried out in 2008, drivers with a high self-perceived levels of courtesy had fewer accidents in the previous three years than those that rated themselves as having low levels of courtesy.** Unfortunately there is no established cause and effect, it could be that having an accident encourages a driver to be more aggressive in future or that being aggressive in the first place makes it more likely that a driver will be caught up in a crash. Either way it’s clear that an aggressive driving style or habits are worrying trait in drivers from the fleet manager’s perspective.

Aggressive behaviour can include cutting other driver’s up, rude hand gestures, tailgating, light flashing, verbal abuse, deliberately obstructing others and even physical attacks.

“It is understandable and yet sad to see that aggressive behaviour behind the wheel worries fleet managers so much says,” FleetDirectory.co.uk spokesperson Richard Lawton.

“Fleet drivers need to stay calm in difficult driving situations, even if they themselves become victim to aggressive behaviour. There are training sessions available for fleet drivers such as the courses run by RoSPA which can help to equip drivers with the skills can need to reduce bad driving habits including controlling aggressive reactions whilst on the road, and teach them how to cope when other motorists display such behaviours toward them,” he said.

-END-

Notes to Editors:

1. * FleetDirectory.co.uk polled 524 website visitors to ask ‘Which of the following would you rate as the worst bad habit among your fleet drivers’. The full results were:

• Aggressive behaviour behind the wheel (40%)
• Driving too fast (27%)
• Making a mess in the car (20%)
• Braking too hard (7%)
• Crunching gears (6%)

2. ** The full study can be found on the Responsible Young Driver’s website located here: http://www.ryd.be/5418Courtesy_EN_final.pdf

About FleetDirectory.co.uk: Featuring thousands of fleet industry links, industry news, guides, traffic updates, car and commercial vehicle reviews; FleetDirectory.co.uk provides a one-stop shop for fleet managers and company car drivers. Find everything you need to run your fleet, with our complete directory of contacts, from accident management to whole life cost calculators.

FleetDirectory.co.uk is owned and maintained by Really Good Domains, which runs more motoring websites than any other company in the UK. As the UK’s largest internet advertising and marketing company for the motor industry, Really Good Domains also run the popular websites ContractHireAndLeasing.com, SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk, TheVanWebsite.co.uk, RoadTestReports.co.uk, CarSupermarkets.co.uk and TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk to name a few.

Contact: Faye Sunderland, fayes@reallygooddomains.com or call 0161 482 7650. Really Good Domains, Domain House, 4 Watchgate, Newby Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport, SK7 5DB.

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/fleetdirectory

As the UK’s first all-LPG vehicle hire firm, Wolverhampton-based Auto LPG Vehicle Hire provides business customers with a range of LPG vehicles including Ford Transits and Citroen Berlingos, available for short term hire. The firm offers flexible hire solutions, providing hire from around a week up to six months and can also provide businesses with accident courtesy vehicles as well as accident management services. The new firm says that its decision to provide an LPG only service will not just help reduce businesses control vehicle running costs but-as they promise to match competitors on hire cost- they offer unbeatable rental prices too.

As LPG usually costs around half the price of petrol, even those not yet converted to LPG may find that the running costs an appealing prospect for their short term hire needs. According to the firm, on the assumption that LPG cost 53 pence per litre compared 109 pence per litre for petrol (prices based on January 2010 averages), a standard Transit van covering just 20,000 miles per annum would, based on the above pricing, save £1456 in fuel costs against the equivalent petrol van, or £1,000 on an equivalent diesel van. Over three years ownership the LPG vehicle would save over a staggering £4,368.

LPG (liquid petroleum gas) is not just cheaper, it is greener too. In fact, it has been shown in tests to reduce CO2 emissions by around 20 per cent compared to petrol. Even though LPG vehicles have similar CO2 output to diesel cars, they have other advantages, for starters they are much quieter than diesel engines, produce fewer particulates and nitrogen oxides emissions and as the fuel has a clean chemical- if it is spilt, it quickly evaporates with little ground contamination. As a by-product of the petroleum industry, LPG retails at a lower price than conventional fuels too. With fuel costs rising once again, LPG is looking like an increasingly attractive fleet solution.

Explains Oliver Roberts, one of the firm’s directors: “We saw a gap in the market, many vehicle hire companies are unable to provide LPG vehicles at all. Those that already run LPG vehicles want to run LPG vehicles all the time, so when it comes to using short term hire, they want to stick with LPG. Our new service ensures that businesses that want to use LPG vehicles don’t have to suffer the inconvenience and expense of running dirty diesels or petrols.”

“We aim in time to expand our service as we are confident that we offer a uniquely appealing fleet solution, in the near future our range of vehicles will grow to match our customers’ needs.”

Acctive Systems on board CCTV solutions (TransVu) is a smart surveillance system for commercial vehicle fleets that boasts a number of features that can actively reduce fleet management spend.

The TransVu unit allows remote tracking and management of fleet vehicles, remote CCTV access to the vehicles, onboard cameras and access to the vehicles onboard management systems. The sighting of the cameras can also provide evidence following an accident, break-in and claim for damage or loss.  The GPS positioning can be used for disputed signatures, in the case of delivery drivers, and can enhance driver safety and efficiency by offering the best routes for economy and close monitoring of driver patterns.

Daniel Bishop, Sales Manager at Acctive Systems said: “Not only can the system play a key role in security measures for all commercial company vehicles, the system can also allow for better fleet management as Depot Operations will be able to see where their vehicles are located at any time and allocate collections to the best placed vehicles.  Print outs of driver work patterns will ensure the Working Time Directive is adhered to at all times, so any potential fines can be avoided.  Simple aspects such as the fuel economy benefit can immediately have an effect on the bottom line, government and manufacturers studies show that an efficient driver can save approximately 10-15 per cent of fuel and therefore release less C02 emissions than a less efficient driver.”

He concluded: “We are confident that by rolling out the TransVu unit across a  number of UK fleets, Acctive Systems can help any commercial fleet owners to achieve and set objectives for protecting their customers’ goods, their employees and their assets.”

Established in 1996, Acctive Systems specialise in the design, installations and maintenance of integrated security solutions, which consist of surveillance to access control and intruder alarms. A leading independent security systems provider; they provide state of the art electronic security solutions to blue chip companies and public sector clients. Their solutions allow the proactive management of incidents, help minimise losses, and protect personnel.

Steve Clarke, general manager of The Fuelcard People said: “Esso service stations are popular with truckers. As well as top quality fuel and lubricants, they offer a range of facilities and special offers and promotions geared to those who drive for a living. These extra sites will be welcomed by drivers in places as far apart as Cornwall and Moray, Essex and Anglesey, Merseyside and Cleveland.”

The Esso fuel card is just one of the extensive range available from The Fuelcard People. These include BP, Esso and Shell, which can all be used at motorway service stations, as well as Texaco, Diesel Direct and ReD. As with all holders of cards from The Fuelcard People, every one of their Esso users has their own dedicated account manager, together with 24/7 online access to their accounts.

“HGV operators using Esso know that being able to pay significantly less than the national average pump price should be only the start of their benefits,” said Steve Clarke. “They expect comprehensive service, savings and security from a fuel card, which we are happy to deliver. The latest additions to the network mean that an already attractive proposition is now even better.”

The Fuelcard People is one of the few fuel card companies able to offer truly impartial, independent advice, offering a broad choice of cards from leading brands. It remains the only fuel cards provider to have achieved ISO 9001 quality certification and is the preferred supplier of an increasing number of trade associations.

A survey of 10,000 ‘at-work drivers’ undertaken by Matrix Global Services Limited (Matrix), through its ‘Driving Risk Manager’ service, showed that 40 per cent of at-work drivers have never seen their company’s driver handbook whilst more than one-in-five (21.6 per cent) private vehicle drivers don’t have the correct class 1 business use insurance in place and nearly one-in-twenty (4.8 per cent) have medical conditions which should have been reported to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

Recent changes in legislation, including the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act, mean that businesses and organisations now have a clear responsibility to any employee who drives on business, whether in a company or private vehicle, even on an occasional basis.
Of the 10,000 drivers surveyed, 44.9 per cent were driving so called ‘grey fleet’ vehicles, (vehicles which are privately owned but which are used on their employers business). In this area the survey found that 570 accidents went unrecorded by companies in the last 12 months and that of this total 116 drivers had more than one unreported accident. Fifty drivers disclosed that they currently had nine penalty points on their licenses.

The findings also reveal that a significant number of at-work drivers (15.8 per cent) don’t take the time to plan their routes or journeys in advance and 6.9 per cent admitted to not arriving at most of their meetings on time. Separate, independent research has shown the when rushing to get to a meeting a driver is four times more likely to be involved in an accident.

Commenting on the findings, Scott Ingham, Managing Director of Matrix, which operates Driving Risk Manager, an innovative, on-line solution for the management of at-work driving compliance said:
“The results of our survey show that a huge number of UK businesses and organisations are not adequately dealing with this important aspect of workplace health and safety. This is despite the fact that their failure to do so could ultimately, cost them their businesses and even their personal freedom.

“Of the 1,300 at-work fatalities each year by far the largest proportion of deaths are as a result of road accidents, making at-work driving the lead exposure to organisations of all sizes. If an at-work driving incident occurs, changes in the way that the police investigate all road incidents, coupled with new police inspection powers, mean that they can start their investigation at the offices of the driver’s employer. Unless the employer is able to tell the police the condition of the vehicle, its service history, the condition of the driver and the insurance status of the vehicle, then both he and the company are exposed.

“In order to deal with that exposure and demonstrate compliance, there is a need to show that all of the right procedures and policies are in place, and that there is a robust audit trail to monitor all those people who might drive on business and the condition of their vehicles. Purchasing Driving Risk Manager is the simple, straightforward way for businesses of all sizes to deal with this problem. For a small annual outlay, which is easily recouped by the management time it saves, it enables employers to survey their at-work drivers, create action plans, a full suite of supporting documentation and, crucially, a proper, verifiable audit trail. It will even issue reminders of when a vehicle is due for a service or MOT.

“The findings of our survey show that businesses need to wake-up to the fact that this is not an area which they can continue to ignore.”

Driving Risk Manager from Matrix is an online service which provides businesses and organisations with a comprehensive service for the management of ‘at-work’ driving risk. Businesses and organisations can obtain further information by visiting www.drivingriskmanager.com

Roddy Graham, commercial director, at the Leasedrive Velo Group said: “We are delighted to have extended our agreement for a further 12 months. At review time, Magnet set tough cost saving targets which we had to achieve in order to retain the business. This we have done and we continue to enjoy an excellent working relationship.

“The new contract is fully managed and covers everything from driver licence checking to short-term rental provision.”

Karen Gregory, HR director at Magnet Group, commented: “Leasedrive Velo has always delivered on its promises and is now rolling out for us a cost saving programme which will meet our new targets. We have enjoyed continuous stability through a dedicated management team, which has made the outsourcing of our fleet requirements hassle-free.”

Magnet continues to benefit from a suite of solutions available under Drive:Manager including Service:Manager, Info:Manager, Accident:Manager, Licence:Manager, Rental:Manager and Responsibility.

The award, given by the judges of monthly trade magazine Fleet World, was presented to Total’s managing director Penny Stoolman at a special ceremony held at the Royal Automobile Club.

Commenting on the award, Chairman of Judges George Emmerson said: ‘All fleets need the service of a good, professional accident management company. The arrival on the scene of the Total Accident Management by Design service in 2007 revealed a product that fleet managers could only dream about. All the processes required to ensure quality accident management are in place, and all staff are trained to a level that leaves an impression of total care being delivered to fleets using the service.’

Penny Stoolman, Total Accident Management’s managing director said: “The award is evidence of how far we have come as a business over the past two years. We are now seen as a key player in the entire fleet industry, not just the accident management sector.”

“Our Accident Management by Design service is an industry leader as it allows us to provide individual services or a complete outsourced accident management solution to companies who run cars, vans and trucks,” she added.