Driving Private Cars

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David,

The key point to note is that employers now need to treat work-related driving (which this clearly is) in exactly the same way as all other work activities, with regards health and safety. You therefore need, for example, to undertake risk assessments and draw up a policy for work-related driving, whether company cars or private vehicles. Your first port of call should be the recent HSE guidance document, ?Driving at work: managing work-related road safety?, which can be downloaded from:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf

Workplace Law also publishes a template driving-at-work policy, which I would recommend you get hold of if you are considering this area. You can find more information online:

http://www.workplacelaw.net/eshop/product_info.php?product_id=183&a_id=1319

Road accidents, such as you refer to above, are therefore the responsibility of the employer in the same way as any workplace accident. The HSE may investigate the accident, and they will consider whether the employer has provided sufficient information, instruction and training, has conducted risk assessments, etc. The employer could certainly be found to have contributed to the accident.

If the employee is a bad driver, you should try and find out in your risk assessment: you should really be asking to see copies of driving licences, and asking to be kept up to date with accidents, etc. The individual, as with any health and safety issue, has a responsibility to look after their own safety and the safety of others.

We will look into what is best practice when it comes to reimbursing excess charges, and also parking tickets ? we will get back to you on this. It would also be interesting to know if other members have a view. On a related note, you should make sure that the employee?s insurance covers driving for work.

As with all health and safety issues, Workplace Law Consulting can help you with staff training, risk assessments, policies, etc. Call 0870 777 8881 for more information.

Hope that helps,

Ciaron Dunne, Workplace Law

The car is now seen an extension of the workplace and, consequently, a risk assessment should be undertaken to identify the risks associated with driving on company business. You are correct to inspect the licenses however it can take an expert to spot anomalies on a driving license. Remember to check both parts of the new type of license.

Other issues to be considered on a risk assessment include; driving time, type of driving i.e. urban/motorway, using hands free mobile (we actively promote no use of phone when driving and link phone use with taking adequate breaks to retrieve messages etc.) smoking whilst driving if there are passengers who do not smoke, accident history is important amongst other things this will help identify if a driver requires some specialist training, alcohol and drugs policy, and generally fit to drive - consider pregnant women who may find it more uncomfortable to drive as 'usual' whilst they are pregnant, those with a mobility impairment which would preclude them from driving long distances you may have to build in longer journey times and finally if the journey is a long one you may have to support and offer overnight accommodation.

Make it clear via your policy that drivers are responsible for fines incurred whilst driving.

There are many companies who support safe driving through training programmes and who can offer advice on the risk assessment process etc. I have had good results using an organisation called DRIVE ALIVE - 01379 651 044. This is not a recommendation it is for you to establish what support you require and locate the best provider to suit your needs an budget.

Regards

This post has been removed because it contravened our guidelines.

Yes, sorry I didn't make that too clear. We would only pay parking fines if there was no other course of action to be able to collect a client/visitor (ie, emergency parking at train station etc). Normally we would expect the driver to act as Mark says and pick up their own charges.

David, i would support Philip's comments totally but would add that we would not pay parking fines on behalf of our staff. If using a car for business purposes we would expect staff to park responsibly and use an authorised car park. Parking tickets display fee paid, date and duration of stay so can easily be verified as business use, we would then refund the parking fee as well as the agreed mileage rate.

We do the same except its a voluntary issue as its a private car.

We ask for a copy of the driving licence, and details of the MOT/tax situation to be sure our H&S responsibilities are met (ie, its a roadworthy car to send for visitors etc). We would pay any parking fine incurred on such a journey, and the IR agreed mileage rate (40p per mile).

We do insist the driver has adequate 'business use' cover on the policy (normally free to add on for limited trips), and that its fully comprehensive. Any insurance claim is then for the driver as its not a company owned vehicle.

We ask employees to use their own cars for company business and we pay a mileage allowance to cover their costs. Generally this means trips to the airport and sometimes trips to our customers' premises for meetings. If they have an accident whilst driving to the airport or a meeting, what responsibility does our company have? Would we have to pay their insurance excess charge for example? If they were bad drivers and had a series of accidents due to their own negligence does that affect our company responsibility? If they get a parking ticket do we have to pay it? Any other implications?