Fleet Risk Consultants

I have been using a product on the glass in my car for the last few months and I am now at the point where I can share the proven benefits of using a glass treatment product.

The product I am using is RainX and it is, in my opinion, brilliant.  It works be creating a micro-surface on the glass and is designed to allow the water to bead and run off easier.  It does this very well indeed and it will allow you the driver the ability to see much clearer and at certain speeds it is not necessary to use the wiper blades as the screen clears of water quicker than the blades could do it.

Over the winter I found an added bonus, it prevents frost forming on the glass.  This meant that I did not need to scrape hard to clear the side glass.

I have re-treated the windscreen because over time it does wear away, but all the other windows are still in a great condition.

So to improve your visibility and give you a bit of extra opportunity to see the road ahead I suggest you invest in some RainX I think you will find it of value.

Nigel Grainger

Senior Consultant

Fleet Risk Consultants

You have employed some great people to work for you, but are you sure they have a valid driving licence?

I always advise my clients that the first job of the New Year is to collect all the driving licences of their employees and check they are valid. There are a couple of great reasons for this.

1. The photocard driving licence was born on the 1st July 1998 in The Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations 1998. Buried in these regulations in Section 8 is an amendment to The Road Traffic Act 1988 (c52) Section 99 that puts a 10 year life span on the photocard driving licence. This is to bring into line with the passport requirements to maintain a recent photograph of the bearer.
If your employees have these photocard driving licences and they are over ten years old and therefore invalid, you are allowing you employees to drive otherwise in accordance with a driving licence. This is an offence for which the senior management could be prosecuted.

2. If anyone got caught breaking the traffic laws, I am thinking of the drink drive laws here, then they will have been dealt with and had their licences removed by now.

To prevent your business falling foul of the law driving licences should be checked every six months, and any organisation checking licences over a period any longer than six months will find themselves, at some point, in serious trouble with either the HSE or the Police or both. At the same time it is good practice to check the eyesight of your staff. If you do this for all staff regardless of whether they drive or not you would have a much better case to present in court, should the need arise.

When you check the licences you should be on the look out for those that state replacement as there are drivers who apply for a replacement licence whilst the original has no points on it. They then produce the original to the courts and the ‘clean’ replacement to their employer. You should also be on the lookout for ten year old photocard licences. The expiry date is on the front of the photocard and is designated 4b.

If you do not feel you can do this yourself, then talk to a licence checking agency. We know some great ones!

Nigel Grainger
Senior Consultant

Fleet Risk Consultants