Fleets need to redouble their efforts to clamp down on drug-driving, FleetCheck has warned, after a leading police officer said the issue was a bigger problem than drink-driving in some areas.

Fleets need to redouble their efforts to ensure drivers are educated about the dangers of drug use and driving

Speaking to the BBC last week, chief constable Jo Shiner of the National Police Chiefs Council said there was a “social acceptance” of drug taking and driving, particularly among younger people, and that some forces made more arrests than for drink-driving during December.

Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said the trend was a warning to fleets, which needed to ensure that employees realised a zero-tolerance culture was in place.

“Generally, drink-driving has now become completely unacceptable socially but there are some signs that the same is not necessarily true of certain drugs, especially when it comes to people in their 20s, 30s and even 40s. This is something that the BBC reporting suggests but which we additionally occasionally hear from fleets on an anecdotal basis.

“Also, many people do not realise that drugs such as cannabis tend to stay in the system for a much longer time than alcohol. An employee could be using these drugs socially on a Friday or Saturday and then climb into a car or van on Monday morning and be unaware that they are unsafe to drive.

“Certainly, what the police are saying indicates that this is an area where fleets need to redouble their efforts to ensure that drivers are educated about the dangers of drug use and driving, and that anyone convicted will lose their jobs.”

Golding said some fleets saw prescribed medication as more of a problem than illegal drugs when it came driving, but warned that these latest reports suggested this was not necessarily the case.

“There is an assumption by some employers that use of illegal drugs among drivers is very limited but there are increasing signs this maybe untrue. It appears that legal drugs prescribed for medical use and those taken for recreational purposes are both potential issues.

“Arguably, these are two different problems that require quite different approaches from fleet managers in terms of the actions taken. Medication is something that needs to be declared and checked to ensure that employees are safe to drive; illegal drugs mean educating drivers about the risk and adopting a zero-tolerance approach.”