Category: Fleet News

The last two years have seen Brexit and the pandemic transform many aspects of life in the UK, and the transportation industry is no exception.

It would be ideal to analyse the current state of the transportation and haulage industries and determine which factors are a result of Brexit, and which are a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is very difficult to do.

Brexit officially happened on the 31^st January 2020. The first UK lockdown was announced on the 23^rd March 2020.

So, as you can imagine, the transportation industry has been affected simultaneously by these two events.

Something that has been massively impacted by both Brexit and the pandemic is the growing shortage or HGV drivers.

Why is there a driver shortage?

There was already a shortage of drivers hitting the transportation industry before Brexit or the pandemic had happened. Older drivers are reaching retirement age, whilst younger drivers are becoming harder to find. However, the situation has deteriorated in the past two years.

UK lockdowns meant that tests had to be postponed. Logistics UK estimates that there is a backlog of 45,000 lorry driving tests. Now lockdowns have eased, these tests should be able to get underway. The DVSA also announced that they hope to see test pass rates from 1,150 per week to 2000 per week by allocating additional staff and overtime.

Others attribute a huge loss of drivers to Brexit. Around 25,000 European drivers from the returned to their homes after the referendum announced that the UK would be leaving the EU. This could be due to fear or confusion about post-Brexit rules on immigration.

The new rules regarding work visas makes it difficult to recruit EU drivers quickly. Richard Burnett of the RHA has asked that short-term visas be allocated to foreign drivers so that the transportation industry has access to more drivers sooner rather than later.

Have vehicle sales been impacted?

70% of all cars sold in the UK are first imported from Europe. When the UK left the EU, it was expected that our ability to import would be impacted.

2020 saw a 29% decrease in car sales compared to 2019. However, this statistic can of course be attributed to the pandemic as well. Fewer people were driving or considering purchasing new vehicles when they had less need to leave their homes.

It was also expected that car prices would increase due to changes to importation procedure. However, this has been avoided. The UK government struck a trade deal with the EU towards the end of 2020. This deal prevented a 10% tariff being applied to cars and car parts imported from Europe.

Is driving in the EU any different?

There has been some confusion amongst drivers as to whether they need to carry a green card whilst driving in the EU.

A green card is proof from your insurer that your vehicle is ensured. It is needed in various countries around the world.

The EU have announced that drivers of UK-registered vehicles will not need a green card. This is especially useful for road hauliers; fleet managers can spend time less time worrying about whether their drivers have the correct documents. All UK vehicle insurance provides the minimum third party cover to drive in the EU and various other countries.

On a similar note, drivers don’t need an international driving permit (IDP) to drive in the EU as long as they have a photocard driving licence issued in the UK. However, it’s always worth checking the requirements to drive in each country on your route to avoid any further complications.

Previously, vehicles required a GB sticker if the number plate doesn’t already display the GB logo. However, this is set to become obsolete. From September 2021, the old sticker will be replaced with the new UK sticker. Whilst this may not be a direct result of Brexit, the decision is theorised to have been made to include Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, but not Great Britain.

Why are some UK hauliers considering moving to the EU?

According to a survey by Haulage Exchange, over half of British haulage firms are making or considering an operations move to the EU.

The surveyed companies state that they have experienced longer border waiting times, and many said they spend longer doing admin before crossing into the EU. The survey also found that 69% of hauliers think Brexit has caused them to lose business, whilst 19% dealt with the delays and increased admin time by simply not doing business with EU companies.

The transportation industry in the UK is facing many changes as a result of both the pandemic and Brexit. Whether you are part of the businesses experiencing difficulties during this time, or part of the 6% who have seen no impact since Brexit happened, you should be considering how your fleet can be saving money.

Get in touch with Fuel Card Services today and see how we could help you save time and money. Our branded fuel cards and range of fleet management solutions are designed to get your fleets running at maximum efficiency.

Every business wants to be profitable, to not overspend on acquiring assets, and to have their employees feel safe and supported. Grey fleets could be one good way of ticking all these boxes at the same time, however whether or not this is true can vary from business to business.

In this article, we’ll dive into the pros and cons of grey fleets; first explaining what they are before sharing our tips on how to manage them.

What is a grey fleet?

A grey fleet describes fleet vehicles that are owned by a company’s employees and driven for businesses purposes, as opposed to when vehicles that are used for business activity are owned by the business as assets.

While this might not seem a huge distinction given that businesses typically compensate drivers who use their own vehicles, there are many legal and technical considerations to factor in when determining whether to use a grey fleet.

The latest Benefit-in-Kind HMRC data indicates that there around 870,000 company car drivers in 2018-19, which was in fact a whopping 30,000 drop on the previous year. Conversely, more and more grey fleets are being used, which you may well recognise on the roads from brands such as Uber.

When might you use a grey fleet?

If you’re deciding against offering company cars to your employees, as many businesses do, then one popular reason for this could be because you instead offer a monthly cash allowance to your drivers that matches or improves upon the financial position they would be in if using a company car. Whether this is the case can vary from business to business.

Typically, fleet operators will rely on the Advisory Fuel Rates (AFR) to calculate what costs would be paid on company car fuel, and consider this alongside relevant taxes to come to a decision on whether to purchase and utilise company vehicles.

It’s important also that the use of the vehicles is considered. Driving a personal car to the post office for business use is, legally speaking, very different to doing it for personal use. So, which way should fleet operators swing?

Grey fleet cars: are they a good idea?

How, then, do you know whether using a grey fleet is a good move for your business? Well, as a rough rule of thumb, using grey fleet cars is often most beneficial if your business does not have a high business mileage. Let’s dive into exactly why:

The pros of using a grey fleet

The obvious pro associated with using a grey fleet is that it’s potentially much cheaper than using company cars. The process of purchasing new company vehicles, maintaining those few vehicles, and acquiring the relevant insurance, can become extremely costly.

If your drivers are only making a handful of trips each month, then the chances are that it’ll be significantly cheaper to simply reimburse them for their fuel and maintenance expenses than it would be to move them over to using company cars as standard.

That said, to maximise this cost benefit and ensure that your drivers are only being reimbursed for business miles, it’s essential to have proper vehicle tracking in place. This is necessary, also, to make an assessment of whether a grey fleet model is right for you. For more help with tracking your fleet, view our MileageCount service.

The cons of using a grey fleet

So, grey fleets can help you save money. It’s important, though, that employers are mindful of the fact that there are legal processes required to facilitate a grey fleet – it isn’t just a case of drivers being entirely responsible for their own safety.

As an employer, the Government’s Health and Safety Executive body decrees that you have a ‘responsibility to take all reasonable steps to manage risks’ posed to employees while driving for business purposes – in a similar fashion to how you would in an office workspace.

Consequently, employers typically have to implement a safety policy, and often work this into their contractual relationship with grey fleet drivers. This applies even if the drivers are subcontracted. As an employer, you’ll need to check:

• Whether drivers’ vehicles are properly compliant with tax and MOT laws.
• Whether drivers are fit and able to drive physically and mentally.
• Whether drivers’ vehicles are properly insured for business use.
• Whether employee driving licences are valid. This includes checking licences if your drivers hail from a foreign country.

It’s worth noting that European driving licences are typically valid for three years in the UK before a UK license is required, whereas this only applies for one year for countries outside of Europe.

Grey fleet management tips

If you’ve made a decision to explore the option of using a grey fleet a little further, or if you’re dead set on rolling a grey fleet policy out, check out our tips first.

1. If you’re thinking about paying drivers monthly in cash as opposed to having them use company vehicles, you may want to set some hard rules for the business around what type of vehicles can be used. After all, you wouldn’t want to be paying to have cars with poor fuel economy used regularly. It may, then, be useful to specify the vehicle age, total mileage, and size (how many doors?).
2. Ensure all of your employees’ vehicles are properly insured for business use. There are subclasses of business insurance that can vary depending on the frequency with which vehicles are used, and on their projected mileage, but it’s quite possible that your drivers are not covered for business use, and may need to upgrade their insurance policy in suit. Many fleet operators compensate this additional cost.
3. Set a duty of care policy to outline exactly how you’ll look after your drivers while they’re operating grey fleet cars.
4. Set professional standards by which drivers must abide by, even when using their personal vehicles for business use. After all, those drivers are representatives of your organisation during work hours, and so you’ll want them to promote positive company values as much as possible.

We hope our insights have helped you get to grips with using a grey fleet. Be sure to check on the latest regulations around this fleet model as safety and tax laws tend to evolve and change every few years.

How could Fuel Card Services help?

At Fuel Card Services, we specialise in supporting fleets across the country – grey or otherwise. Our range of advanced fleet services can help fleet managers with everything from servicing and maintenance to advanced telematics and tracking vehicle mileage. We also offer:

• MileageCount – an intelligent, automated system for accurately reporting mileage claims.
• DriversClub – our fast and free fuel-finder app that helps your drivers quickly locate their nearest fuel pump.
• Expert – An app for helping with conducting and logging daily vehicle safety checks.

If you’re serious about making efficiencies within your fleet operation, then contact our friendly experts to see how we can support you. Did we mention that we’re also the UK’s largest independent provider of fuel cards that can help you cut costs on every mile?

As of April 2022, new restrictions on red diesel will be introduced. Previously, many sectors have been able to enjoy the use of this rebated fuel for various uses. However, new government measures will mean fewer sectors will be permitted to use the fuel.

What is red diesel?

Red diesel is the same as regular diesel except for two major differences.

Firstly, it is taxed at a much lower rate than regular fuel. It tends to be around 50p cheaper per litre compared to regular diesel. However, it is not supposed to be used to fuel regular road vehicles. Instead, the fuel is mainly used for three things:

• Fuelling off-road machinery such as tractors or forklifts.
• As fuel for heating in buildings.
• As fuel for generators.

In fact, it is illegal to use red diesel to fuel your road vehicles – doing so is considered to be tax evasion. If you are caught driving on the road with this fuel in your tank, there can be serious consequences for the driver.

That brings us to the second major difference from regular diesel –  the liquid is dyed red, hence the name. If police suspect that you are using the fuel, they can use a dipstick to check your tank. If it comes out red, they’ll know you have been using the rebated fuel.

Who will be permitted to use red diesel in 2022?

When the act was announced in 2020, it was stated that the only exception to the ban was in industries such as agriculture and rail travel.

However, further exemptions have since been added. As of April 2022, the following uses for red diesel will be permitted.

• Fuelling vehicles and machinery used in agriculture, horticulture, fish farming and forestry.
• Powering passenger, freight and maintenance rail vehicles.
• To heat and power non-commercial buildings such as homes, places of worship, hospitals or town halls.
• Powering off-grid generators.
• To power amateur sports clubs and golf courses.
• Powering machinery used in travelling fairs and circuses, including caravans.
• To fuel marine craft operating in the UK.

What are the implications of this change for your business?

If your business has been using red diesel for a purpose not listed above, you will not be permitted to continue using it after April 2022.

There is also no grace period to finish your old stock. If you have any red diesel left over after April 2022, you will not be permitted to continue using it unless you are in a sector that is unaffected by the ban.

Instead, any of your vehicles that require diesel fuel will need to be filled up with the standard white diesel, or an alternative such as Shell GTL or HVO.

To continue enjoying discounted fuel, ensure that your drivers are equipped with a fuel card that is right for your business.

A number of cards in our extensive range of branded fuel cards offer savings on diesel. Don’t let the new restrictions on red diesel catch your business out; prepare yourselves with a fuel card to keep your fuel costs as low as possible.

Why have these changes been made?

According to the government website, the objective of this policy is to steer businesses away from fossil fuels in order to reduce emissions.

Red diesel is currently responsible for 14 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. It is hoped that, by limiting its use, the UK will have a higher chance of reaching its 2050 target of being net zero.

Additionally, the government hopes that the restrictions will prompt businesses to make the transition to electric vehicles.

More tax will be paid by businesses sticking to diesel, as they will have to switch to regular diesel which is taxed at around 58p per litre. This money will be reinvested by the government into green initiatives. This likely includes extra charging infrastructure as well as grants for purchasing low emissions vehicles.

Is your business ready for the restrictions?

For those businesses no longer permitted to use red diesel, it is important to consider how costs will be kept low.

With the right fuel card, your fleet could keep fuel costs low despite the upcoming changes. Making the switch to regular diesel doesn’t mean your fleet’s running costs have to break the bank.

Get in touch with the team at Fuel Card Services today, and we’ll see how we can help you prepare for the April 2022 reform.

As a fleet operator, you may be distressed by the idea that your drivers could be choosing to use their mobile phones while on the job rather than paying full attention to the road. After all, while multi-tasking is a great skill – we’re only human and simply do not have the ability to operate a vehicle while being fully alert to road dangers, and texting or making a phone call.

So, using a phone while driving is definitely a bad thing, but we all see drivers on their phones from time to time while we’re on the roads – meaning there are a bunch of potential issues to unpack here. There are questions around whether (and how) drivers actually use phones while driving, the legality of using a phone while driving, and how to approach this topic within your organisation. That’s exactly what we’re going to dive into in this article.

Mobile phone driving laws

The Department of Transport’s 2017 research found that as many as 445,000 drivers are using their phones while driving. Whether they realise it or not, this is simply not legal. In fact, it’s illegal to use any handheld mobile device while driving.

The relevant UK laws we can look to for guidance on the use of mobile devices while operating a vehicle are:

• The UK guidance on using a phone or sat nav while driving. This guidance advocates the use of a cradle for those in need of a mobile device while driving and outlines the conditions under which this is safe – including when using a Bluetooth headset or windscreen mount.
• The Crown Prosecution Service’s legal guidance on mobile phones & road traffic. This article helps provide clarity as to what can be defined as a handheld device, and what exactly constitutes driving.

It’s important that all drivers within a commercial fleet have accurate and up to date knowledge of these laws to protect both themselves and other road users from harm. To check whether this is a prominent issue amongst your drivers, you could look to have an honest conversation with them, or survey them to test grey areas that help you identify whether these laws are fully understood.

Here are some questions to help get you started:

Q: Is it legal to drive while texting?

A: No

Q: Is it legal to send texts while you’re waiting at a red light?

A: No. This applies even if your engine is turned off and the vehicle is stationary. The only exception to this is if you’re using hands free communications, which are permitted so long as they do not distract you from driving.

Q: Is it legal to plug your phone into your car and charge it while driving?

A: Also no.

Q: How can you take an urgent phone call when driving?

A: The correct way to do this is to pull over into a designated parking space, turn your engine off, apply the handbrake and remove the keys from the ignition.

All of these individual operations are still considered part of the driving, so a vehicle is not considered to be truly stationary in law until all of these operations have been completed. After this process has been completed, the more time that passes means it’s less likely the driver is considered to be actively driving.

What happens if you’re caught on your phone while driving?

It’s important to consider the potential implications of breaking these laws, both from a driver and company perspective.

For drivers

For drivers, there’s a risk of committing prosecutable offences directly related to using a mobile phone while driving. There are also separate offences around not being in full control of a vehicle – which can apply if the driver is deemed to have been distracted by a phone in a cradle.

If a police officer sees any such offence committed, prosecution will follow – and it will result in points added onto a driver’s licence and a fine, as well as potentially more serious ramifications based on the severity and impact of the offence.

If a driver is disqualified from driving as a result of these types of offences, they’ll find themselves unable to continue driving professionally.

For fleet operators

From a business perspective, there are practical issues associated with having your drivers disqualified. For example, it could generate a bad reputation for your business if such issues occur repeatedly and are picked up on by the media – which may impact your ability to secure contracts and bring new customers on board.

What’s more, there’s already a severe lorry driver shortage in the UK (as of August 2021) so recruiting new team members is likely to be challenging. A much better option, then, is to take steps now to improve driver safety and ensure laws are being followed by your employees.

How to encourage your drivers to put down their phones

So, what practical steps can you take to achieve this within your organisation?

1. Have an open and honest conversation with your drivers about the laws. Look to test their understanding of the laws and educate them on best practice.
2. Ensure that your employee contracts include clauses that explain what happens in situations whereby a driver has been found breaking the laws, including if it has resulted in an accident.
3. Support your drivers with the right technology. While many modern vehicles have built-in Sat Navs and the likes, it’s important to make sure that your drivers have access to cradles or hands-free alternatives that prevent them from having to use their phones while driving.

One final thought is that it’s simply not worth looking for ways around the existing laws. Did you know, for example, that in event of a serious accident, the police have the right to access a phone and analyse its data to determine whether the device was being used at the time of an incident, and could have therefore caused the driver to lose control of their vehicle?

How could Fuel Card Services help?

At Fuel Card Services, we specialise in supporting drivers and fleets with the right technology. Our range of fleet services is designed to you access to:

• Advanced telematics – a fully customisable tracking system tailored to your fleet’s requirements that can improve safety for your drivers.
• MileageCount – an intelligent, automated system for accurately reporting mileage claims.
• DriversClub – our fast and free fuel-finder app that helps your drivers quickly locate their nearest fuel pump.

If you’re serious about bringing the right technology to your fleet, and saving costs both through tech and having the right fuel cards for your drivers, then contact our friendly experts to find out how we can support you.

The world is in the midst of a huge semiconductor shortage that has the potential to wreak havoc on vehicle manufacturing. What started as a temporary delay has escalated quickly.

But why has this shortage affected the world of vehicle manufacturing so strongly?

What is a semiconductor chip?

The semiconductor chip is found in a huge number of electronic devices. From TVs to computers to cars to phones; they all require these chips. Almost every industry in the world uses and relies on a steady supply of them.

Chips are essentially the “brain” of any electronic device. They are made from silicon, which is one of the most abundant elements on the planet. The first silicon transistor was built in 1947, and since then, the chip industry is now worth £410bn.

So why is there a semiconductor shortage if the materials required are so abundant, and why is vehicle manufacturing being stunted as a result?

Why is there a shortage?

There are a number of reasons attributed to the shortage. However, the size of this shortage is down to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There was a blip in the manufacturing of semiconductor chips when the pandemic hit. Supply issues and temporary factory shutdowns caused what was expected to be a temporary delay.

However, the pandemic brought with it an unexpected side effect. With many of us being instructed to stay at home, whether that be to work or not, we all found a new level of reliance on our digital devices. The result of this was a 15% increase in demand for semiconductors; a demand that the industry is struggling to keep up with.

Why does the semiconductor shortage affect vehicle manufacturing?

Think about your own vehicles – how much technology do you have on your dashboard? Do you have a built-in sat-nav or digital speedometer? Both of these things require the semiconductor chips that manufacturers are struggling to get their hands on. Even your radio will have one!

Then consider the more tech-heavy vehicles. In many modern vehicles, systems such as traction control, emissions, cruise control, fuel injection and much more are handled by a computer. The same goes for electric vehicles, which are fitted with state of the art technology to control its many different systems. They are becoming more popular each year, but it is questionable whether manufacturers will be able to maintain this steady increase in production if they can’t get their hands on the needed materials.

Depending on the complexity of the vehicle, there can be anywhere between 50 and 1000 semiconductors used in their design.

What implications does that shortage have?

The result of the shortage is a sizeable delay to vehicle manufacturing. Delivery times for many cars has jumped from 3 months to 6 months. Furthermore, new models of vans are thought to be delayed until 2022 the earliest.

Ford, for example, have been cutting shifts at production factories around the world. They reported that they expected to lose as much as half of all planned production in the second quarter of 2021, and their profits could be hit by up to $2.5bn by the end of the year. One of the factories facing cuts is one that produces highly profitable pickup trucks, which will contribute greatly to their losses.

Countries such as Japan and China have recently experienced a huge drop in production. China saw a four-month low, and Japan saw the biggest monthly drop in a year.

We could see an increase in the car prices, or begin to see vehicles without as many gadgets installed as we are used to. Manufacturers are having to discern which vehicles they need to prioritise. With a limited number of chips, they need to focus on the vehicles with the most demand. On the other hand, with manufacturers being encouraged to meet emissions targets, they may choose to focus more on hybrid and electric vehicles instead.

With this in mind, it will definitely pay to keep your vehicles well maintained for the duration of this shortage. Having to replace an old vehicle during a time where vehicles are no being manufactured quickly enough could be a very slow process indeed.

Get in touch with the team at MyService.Expert, and see how you can simplify your company vehicle maintenance.