Waste vehicle solutions group puts safety first

The Cooper Group UK, with 22 years of specialising in municipal service vehicles, is taking the innovative step of fitting Alcolocks to its fleet of nearly 100 vehicles to demonstrate its commitment to ensure its customers are offered the safety of a vehicle that can only be operated by a sober driver.

The Alcolock uses a hand-held breathalyser with a wireless system to automatically prevent the engine from starting if it detects a pre-determined level of alcohol in the driver’s system.

‘Thankfully we’ve not had any drink-drive problems, and know our drivers will also see it as a reassuring safety feature, but Coopers have always taken a leading position in our industry and we want to continue to offer the best service for our customers,’ said Ian Cooper, Managing Director, Cooper Group UK.

‘There are many attractive benefits of the Alcolock system, but the main one has to be that if you are ever unfortunate enough to witness the devastation caused by a senseless death due to a drink driver, any effort to try and prevent such misery should be attempted whatever the monetary cost,’ he continued.

The Cooper Group has successfully developed its business by providing a professional, reliable service and spotting new market trends. Coopers now sees safety as a priority ahead of future legislation which could see fitting Alcolocks to commercial vehicles become a legal requirement as fleet managers come under increasing legal responsibility to ensure, and demonstrate, their drivers are operating at appropriate standards to protect themselves, any passengers or other road users.

Alcolocks can be retro-fitted to any vehicle and are already used extensively in Sweden, Canada, North America and Australia. The Swedish Government is already drafting legislation to have Alcolocks fitted to all new buses and trucks by 2010, and cars by 2012.

Full information of the Cooper Group UK are available from coopergroupuk.com, and for Alcolock from alcolockgb.com.