Grey Fleet

What is "Grey Fleet"?

"Grey Fleet" travel refers to mileage in employee-owned vehicles - a grey area, where millions of hidden miles are travelled each year and often overlooked by employers and employees alike.  This means that if you are a public sector organisation looking to make cost savings, reduce environmental impact, or better manage the risks related to driving for work, "Grey Fleet" is an important place to focus your attention.

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is the lead organisaton on the project.  The OGC chairs quarterly meetings with pubic sector organisations to discuss the issues of "Grey Fleet".

The "Grey Fleet" project is about working with public sector organisations to raise the profile of the "Grey Fleet" as well as help them run initiatives aimed at reducing the number of business miles driven by employees in their own vehicles.

There are at least three good reasons for organisations to reduce this kind of travel.

CARE: The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came in to force in April 2008 created a new offence where death is caused by a gross breach of duty of care by senior management.  This means that where it can be proved that senior management are responsible for a gross breach of duty of care relating to an employee driving for work and that death has resulted from this breach, penalties can be applied including unlimited fines and publicity orders.  In addition to this the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imposes on employers a statutory duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. This is relevant in relation to "Grey Fleet" as this statutory duty would apply when employees are undertaking driving for work.  While it is possible to manage "Grey Fleets" effectively, many organisations in both the public and private sectors struggle to do so, on grounds of resource, expertise and the greater difficulty in monitoring vehicles not directly owned or managed by the organisation.

CARBON: There is increasing focus on how sustainable organisations run their operations and the need to reduce the impact these operations have on the environment.  Further more, the government has set targets to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 26% by 2020 relative to 1990 levels.  "Grey Fleet" vehicles are generally older than company passenger fleet cars and are known to contribute the bulk of the road transport CO2 emissions in some organisations.  Tackling "Grey Fleet" will help reduce your organisations carbon footprint and contribute to towards achieving CO2 reduction targets.

COST: Although not usually a prime motivator for a "Grey Fleet" project - there is also a cash benefit.  "Grey Fleet" mileage re-imbursement rates are normally considerably higher than alternative modes of travel and a focus on "Grey Fleet" helps employees make consious decisions about the journeys they make.  This typically results in a reduction in unnecessary business journeys and reduces the strain on travel budgets.  "Grey Fleet" projects managed under the collaborative fleet procurement project saved over £8m for public sector organisations in 2008/2009.

For more information, please e-mail us at: enquiries@lac-consilium.com.