Travis Perkins Plc has deployed the DAVIS solution from Licence Check to meet all fleet compliance requirements across its 4,000-strong vehicle fleet.

Since shifting to the DAVIS platform from Licence Check across its entire fleet, Travis Perkins has seen numerous benefits

The group employs 16,000 people across more than 2,000 stores, branches and sites across the country and operates a mixed fleet that includes 700 LCVs and 1,500 company cars, plus a further 800 grey fleet cars and 1,800 HGVs.

The business was using its previous fleet management provider to meet its complex licence checking and fleet compliance requirements, carrying out licence checks across the fleet every six months, depending on the risk profile of the driver.

However, due to the strong compliance and duty of care protocols under its operating licence, Travis Perkins felt a specialised provider would be more suited to helping meet that standard.

Since shifting to the DAVIS (Driver and Vehicle Information Solution) platform from Licence Check in September 2021, it’s seen numerous benefits. This includes increased frequency of licence checks across all drivers so that now the platform checks 5,500 licences every month, rather than every six.

Fleet systems manager Jon Lowe, who is responsible for fleet compliance at Travis Perkins, explained: “With six monthly checks, while we would rely on our drivers to tell us if they have an incident or incur penalties on their licence, there was always a chance, with the time lag, that some would slip through the cracks, creating compliance issues.

“Now, by increasing the frequency of checks through DAVIS, we are able to have a more complete picture of our drivers, ensure that we are legally compliant and can more readily identify which drivers are high or low risk.”

Under the previous licence checking and compliance regime, the business built an award-winning API (Application Programming Interface) called Phoenix to provide drivers’ details to key suppliers including Microlise, its telematic supplier, and Tranzaura, its electronic vehicle condition checking and tacho analysis provider, streamlining activities.

By switching to DAVIS, the two systems can now integrate seamlessly and Phoenix is able to provide data directly into the platform, and DAVIS returns it seamlessly to the fleet compliance department every 15 minutes with updates on drivers’ records.

“While we will never be 100% accurate all of the time, because of a highly fluid picture with employees being off sick, leaving the business or changing job roles, DAVIS allows us to aim for 99.5% accuracy.”

DAVIS also allows Travis Perkins to effectively manage the risk associated with its 800 grey fleet drivers, including regular checks on licences but also business insurance, MOT and servicing.

Terry Hiles, general manager at Licence Check, commented: “Thanks to DAVIS, Travis Perkins is managing a very complex fleet risk and compliance picture across a huge and varied fleet, and with many thousands of drivers, very effectively, efficiently and in a most impressive manner.

“We look forward to a very long and mutually beneficial business relationship,” he added.