Case Study - M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd (Northgate plc)

Profile

Company Name: M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd
Business Sector: Autos
Postal Address: Norflex House, Wiltshire Road Hull, Humberside
Postcode: HU4 6PA
Fleet Size Overall:

5700
HGV: Intentionally Blank
LGV:

Intentionally Blank
Company Cars: Intentionally Blank
Private vehicles used for business purposes: Intentionally Blank

Company Overview

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd is a subsidiary within the Northgate plc network, the United Kingdom and Ireland market leader in rental of commercial vehicles. Northgate plc bought M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd in 1988. At that time M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd was a Hull based firm operating locally.

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd. flourished within the Northgate plc group and expanded in to Scunthorpe in 2002 and Grimsby in 2003, focussing on the commercial vehicle hire market in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. Its fleet at this time had expanded to some 2500 vehicles.

In 2006, Northgate plc began a merger process within the group which reduced 35 subsidiary companies to 20 trading companies. M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd was merged with Acorn Vehicle Rental in Chesterfield and Don Valley Self Drive in Doncaster and Sheffield. The three firms’ accounts departments were merged in to a single entity and their 3 fleets combined in to a single fleet run along the procedures set up by M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd. The merged fleet consisted of some 4500 vehicles in late 2006. The fleet is currently 5700 strong.

Nature of Operation and Driving Activities

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd offers commercial vehicle rentals which are tailored to its customers’ needs. It primarily supplies customers local to its four sites in Chesterfield, Doncaster, Hull and Sheffield. In addition, it also provides solutions for large, multi-site customer requirements spread across the United Kingdom and has the ability to tap in to the Northgate plc portfolio of over 65000 commercial vehicles.

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd is proud of the fact that it offers its customers what they need and is prepared to modify its vehicles in its workshops to ensure that it meets the customers’ exact requirements, including complete branding of vehicles personalised to its customers’ company colours.

The company undertakes to deliver two key commitments to its customers:

  1. Safety. Safety is a high priority for M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd. The company takes its legal obligations for duty of care serious. This approach applies equally to its customers. It ensures that its vehicles are comprehensively serviced to aid compliance with its customers’ duty of care responsibilities.
  2. Safety Inspection. Every vehicle is inspected by an IRTEC qualified mechanic and signed off as meeting the company’s road safety standards prior to issue to a customer. This process is applied every time the vehicle is hired out, even if more than once in a single day.

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd employs about 25 full time drivers across the group and has approximately 20 agency drivers working for it on a daily basis. These drivers are used to collect and deliver the company’s hire vehicles across the United Kingdom.

Organisational Structure

Within the Northgate plc group, M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd is responsible to the Northgate Board. The Managing Director M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd is accountable to the Northgate plc Board for all elements of health and safety, including work related road safety. These responsibilities are clearly defined by the Northgate plc Board. The Managing Director delegates these responsibilities in a clearly defined manner to his Departmental Managers and their Supervisors.

Work Related Road Safety Policy and Procedures

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd work related road safety policy and procedures are based on an ethos which permeates the company. The company values its drivers and employees as individuals for the contribution they can make. It understands that they create the company’s image in the mind of its customers. This image is founded on their commitment to individual responsibility, values and to the corporate standards of their company.

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd recruit their staff carefully. Only 1 in 10 applicants to the company is successful. For drivers, recruits must be at least 21 years old, have 12 months of driving experience since passing their driving test and have a clean licence. The key qualities which M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd look for in their employees are:

  • A positive, responsible and willing attitude.
  • Confidence.
  • Good interpersonal skills.
  • The ability to demonstrate strong values at a probing interview.
  • The ability to fit in to a Health and Safety culture in which every individual takes responsibility for ensuring that the company’s standards are met as a minimum performance.

Once a recruit has been selected for employment, the following process take place:

  1. Induction. The induction process covers the following:
    • Uniform. All employees are issued a comprehensive uniform. The company is proud of its branding and wishes its employees to reflect this in their dress. Drivers receive additional items of clothing and equipment which enhances their safety. This includes bags; personal protective equipment and an assortment of high visibility vests.
    • Induction Folder. All employees must read and initial the contents of the Induction Folder. This folder covers:
    1. Health and Safety Induction Manual.
    2. Northgate plc Vehicle User Manual.
    3. Drink and Drugs Policy.
    4. Workplace Transport Policy.
    5. Fire Action Policy.
    6. Environmental Policy Statement.
    7. Mobile Phone Policy.
    8. . Northgate plc Health and Safety Policy Statement.
    9. Road Traffic Accident Procedure.
    • Highway Code. All employees receive a copy of the highway code.
  2. Training. All employees are trained to British Safety Council Level 1 standard. In addition, all employees complete a 2 day assessment and driver training course run by OccuDrive Ltd as part of their Fleet Risk Solutions package. All employees must pass this course and retraining is available for those who do not meet the standards the first time. All employees are quite clear that their future employment depends on success on this course. Depending on individual scores and performance, a 1 day refresher course is mandatory each year. This course is also mandatory for all agency drivers attached to M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd. Where an employee’s scores are low or where performance standards were assessed as low, the 2 day course could be repeated at the 18 month or 2 year point.
  3. Review Process. OccuDrive Ltd provide an instructor on a regular basis to accompany M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd drivers on their routine business. This allows the instructor to assess and monitor individual performance and to understand the nature of the driving tasks faced by drivers. This allows training to be tailored to the company’s driving requirements.

Work Related Road Safety Guidance for drivers

Every employee at M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd must read and initial the Northgate plc Drivers Manual. This is a comprehensive document which covers the following in detail:

  • Driver Management including Licence Checking procedures.
  • Journey Planning and Preparation.
  • Driving.
  • Incident Management.
  • Environment.

In addition, each driver receives a Driver Information File which covers the following:

  • Company Contact Numbers.
  • Information on Northgate plc sites.
  • Emergency Contact Numbers.
  • Procedures for Handing Over and Collecting Vehicles.

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd also maintains a master record which ensures that all employees have completed all the necessary checks, have signed that they have read the company’s policy and procedures information and that the mandatory tests and checks have taken place. In addition, a comprehensive file is maintained for each individual employees on which all documentation associated with the policies and procedures described above are held.

Finally, in addition to the Training process described above, Tool Box briefings take place on a weekly basis which test and teach understanding of all elements of the company’s operations. These range from completing questionnaires on the Highway Code to understanding how to manage and interface with customers.

Specific examples of procedures

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd expands on the processes described above by regularly briefing its drivers on issues such Driver Hours and safety awareness. For the latter process, it makes full use of the material provided by Brake. The company is a participant in Brake road safety seminars.

The company has been insistent that its employees feel that their tasks are carefully planned. This involves not only route planning but also detailed time appreciations to ensure that drivers take regular breaks, that their hours are balanced to ensure that long journeys are followed by shorter tasking and that all driving is focussed on driving economically.

Auditing and review

The Managing Director takes a personal interest in the performance of his staff. The company places a high value on the licence checking process. In addition, the performance of drivers is monitored to ensure that high standards are maintained. Where there has been regression, formal retaining is undertaken by OccuDriveLtd.

Performance measures

All the company’s sites run standardised incident and accident monitoring processes. Records are maintained for each site and the Operations Director controls all Health and Safety monitoring as part of his brief.

Accident reduction

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd did not have a problem with accident rates. The accident rate was traditionally very low and has not increased in spite of the pressure of amalgamating the staff and procedures of 3 different companies. The company puts this down to the fact that it introduced its work related road safety procedures to the other companies.

However, it was keen to maintain and improve upon its existing record and understood that only constant attention to work related road safety would provide any degree of security. Its ethos that every driver “was delivering a vehicle to a customer” meant that safety, presentation and reliability were and remain important factors in the way the company does its business.

Financial and other benefits

The company believes that prevention is more effective than cure. It has observed good practice among its competitors and has been prepared to borrow and imitate ideas which might improve work related road safety.

Lessons learned

The company believes that the introduction of its training process reaffirmed the importance of its selection policy for employees.

In addition, the investment it made in terms of training its staff has been more than rewarded by their loyalty, willingness to adapt and change to new circumstances and, finally, to take pride in the way their company handles its customers.

Current and future developments

M&G Vehicle Hire Ltd are reviewing whether or not the company should introduce the concept of “advanced driver/instructors” who could internally train, test and validate performance.

Additional information

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