Fleet Risk Consultants

Do you, or more importantly your employees, know the legal minimum for tread depth for cars and vans is currently 1.6mm of tread across the central three quarters of the tyre.  For HGV’s the minimum tread depth is 1mm in the grooves of the tread pattern throughout a continuous band measuring at least three quarters of the breadth of the tread.  Tyres with bald patches, bulges or cuts over 25mm long exposing the cords are also illegal and unsafe.

If you do, are you also aware that the penalty for an illegal tyre is 3 penalty points and a fine up to £2500. If you have four tyres that are illegal that could mean a ban from driving and a possible fine of up to £10,000.

Employers should be aware that an employee driving on business could expose the organisation to a charge of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring that same offence. You should have a robust Risk Management system in place to manage your vehicle maintenance.  This leaves the organisation exposed to similar penalties.  Also collisions that can be attributed to a defective tyre and a system is not in place to prevent that defect occurring could lead to charges under Corporate Manslaughter Legislation.

Most of the tyre fitting organisations like Kwik Fit will offer a service to come to your premises and check the legality of your vehicles tyres on a monthly basis. This system, if correctly used, could lead to any charges against the organisation being defended successfully.  The alternative to this is to instruct your drivers to visit a local tyre company if they are unsure about the state of their tyres.

This applies to vehicles in the UK only, the rules are different in other countries.

Nigel Grainger

Senior Consultant

Fleet Risk Consultants

Fleet Risk Consultants were recently asked to write a risk assessment on a new home delivery vehicle that had been developed to reduce the carbon emissions produced when the supermarkets deliver your weekly shop to your home.

The vehicle is produced by Zeroed Ltd and is powered by electricity gained from the normal mains system.  It differs from most electric vehicles in that it is based on an existing chassis.  Zeroed use an Isuzu chassis as a base for their vehicle and they use the space where the diesel engine used to be to place the electric motor.  The chassis is ideal in that it is high enough to allow the battery strings to be mounted on the chassis rails and therefore not reduce the load space of the vehicle.  It also drives in the same manner as a standard diesel vehicle, but with a limited maximum speed of 55mph.

This vehicle created some interesting challenges for us at Fleet Risk Consultants in that is in excess of 3,500kg due to the base weight of the vehicle.  The reason the vehicle is in excess of 3,500kgs with the same payload as a normal refrigerated van is because of the batteries required to deliver power to the vehicle.  There are a large number of batteries required to provide the range required by the end users.  The higher Gross Vehicle Weight could cause issues for the potential end user if it were to fall subject to operators licensing and/or EU drivers hours regulations.

So, whilst conducting the risk assessment for Zeroed Ltd we also needed to check the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 and the Community Drivers’ Hours and Recording Equipment Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/1457).  The legislation was critical to the client and in keeping with our philosophy at Fleet Risk Consultants we made a thorough examination of all the relevant clauses and were able to give Zeroed Ltd some important information on how their product fits in with the legislation.

Crucially the vehicle is currently exempt from the operators licensing regulations by virtue of it’s electric power source, this same power source allows the vehicle to be exempt from the EU Drivers’ Hours’ Regulations on the proviso that it remains within a 50km radius of it’s operating base.

As for the risk assessment?  Well we found the vehicle to have no greater risks in operation than a normal diesel engined vehicle, with the one exception that it was very quiet.  In fact there are fewer items for the driver to check daily so it could reduce some time at the commencement of the day.  You just need to make sure that the drivers realise that the pedestrians and vulnerable road users may not be aware of the vehicle.

Zeroed Ltd can be contacted via their website HERE.

Nigel Grainger

Senior Consultant

Fleet Risk Consultants