SME’s Unaware Of Company Car Obligations

Monday, 12. October 2009

It has been estimated that there are in excess of 1 million businesses in the UK considered to be running ‘small fleets’ of company vehicles (25 or less). It would seem that the vast majority of these businesses don’t see themselves as running a ‘fleet’ of vehicles but they should be aware that the same rules and regulations regarding duty of care, health and safety and the Corporate Manslaughter Act along with environment based taxation all apply in the same way as they do to companies that run 10,000 or more vehicles. Allow your employees to use their own vehicles for company business and you have a duty of care to ensure that the driver is properly insured, has a current driving licence and the car is roadworthy and fit for the purpose for which it is used. Tough legal penalties can be imposed, including prison, if a director, responsible for the car use, is seen to be failing in his duty along with the driver. In addition, substantial sums of money can be saved by a company if they simply carry out a total review of their funding method, even if they run just one car. Less than 10% of one person’s time, in companies running small fleets of vehicles, is typically dedicated to these important issues. A little more time could save lives, injury and money. By Graham Hill