Preparing drivers for winter should be part of Duty of Care

Preparing fleet cars and their drivers for winter motoring should be taken more seriously by companies aiming to meet their Duty of Care obligations according to Lex, the UK’s largest leasing company.

Longer than ever service intervals on many models and a tendency from some drivers to use and abuse their company cars need to be proactively addressed by companies.

“Some cars now only need a service once every 18,000 miles, which means we only see some low mileage cars for servicing twice during a typical three year contract,” explained Jon Walden, managing director of Lex.

“These cars are at extra risk during winter as we have to rely on drivers being responsible for checking items such as oil, washer fluid, tyres and windscreen wipers,” he added.

Lex has come up with a three-point plan for companies to encourage drivers to take winter safety more seriously:

send out an email circular to ALL drivers about preparing their company car for winter

getting a leasing supplier in to carry out car park checks on tyres and windscreens

naming and shaming drivers on a regular basis who don’t clean their company cars

Lex is considering putting a circular out to its maintenance network to ensure all key items on its cars are checked the next time they visit a dealer, even if they are not in the manufacturer’s service schedule.

“There was a time when winter safety notices were not even considered by companies, but with the reality of Duty of Care it is important they encourage drivers to think more about safety. Employers should put company car driver safety just as high up their priority list as they would with drivers of fork lift trucks and employees operating machinery,” said Walden.