Toolkit guides fleets to best practice Relays are perfect fit for mobile barbers

There is a common misconception that there is little legislation governing van drivers and van operations. Now a new free toolkit has been launched to help to cut through the myths to keep drivers safe, vans legal and to ensure employers comply with not just road traffi c legislation but also their Health and Safety at Work responsibilities.

The Van Driver Toolkit – from the Highways England Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention Team – is a series of free information modules to assist van drivers and their managers.

The toolkit is designed to help employers implement best practice to improve driver wellbeing, reduce costs, improve operating conditions, and ensure vehicles operate safely and legally.

The modules address the real issues that van drivers deal with, such as the risks of overloading; attention to vehicle road-worthiness; safe and considerate parking and drivers’ hours.

Mark Cartwright, head of the commercial vehicle incident prevention team at Highways England, said: "One of the things that we see in the van space is the ‘organically grown’ van fl eet – the local business, the local entrepreneur that set themselves up as a gardener, or dog walker, or window washer, or plumber, or window cleaner – whatever it happens to be – and got good at it. "Five years on, and there are 10, 20, 50 vans parked outside but they haven't gone through the same learning processes as a truck operator would do, for example, and probably don't realise the signifi cant fi nancial and reputational risk they are exposed to." https://vandrivertoolkit.co.uk/

TRIM-IT, the mobile barber business founded by Darren Tenkorang, has ordered 60 new Citroën Relay ‘Enterprise’ panel vans for delivery from the start of 2022. And a further 160 Relays are planned for delivery before the end of 2022 to allow for the continuing growth of the business. The company featured on the Channel 4 show The Money Maker earlier this year and with over 17,000 followers on the TRIM-IT app, the new fl eet of Relays will allow the business to grow.

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With plans to pull over more LCV’s on the roadside and to potentially enforce HGVlike legislation on the LCV market, isn’t about time you checked your minibus or van’s laden weights, especially the individual axle weights? SvTech has discovered many more vans have overloaded rear axles than previously thought. Any overload could invalidate your insurance.

SvTech can help with uprating your LCV to give you more payload, keeping you safe and legal. Most makes and models catered for. Call us to discuss your needs and try using our free Load Distribution program – www.svtech.co.uk/lda