Corporate Manslaughter Bill Concerns for Fleets
Tyre safety could assume even greater importance soon when the Corporate Manslaughter Bill becomes law in the UK, warns Cheshire-based fleettyreline. The Bill is expected to become law within the next 18 months and will create a new offence of Corporate Manslaughter to cover all deaths at work and target corporate rather than individual liability. For example, a company could find itself liable in the instance of a death arising from an unroadworthy vehicle.
Said fleettyreline chairman John Church: “This Bill has far-reaching implications for any company operating a fleet, whether it is half a dozen vehicles or many hundreds. If a vehicle is defective in any area, most notably in a safety-critical area such as tyres, the liability issue is clear-cut. Our understanding is that, if an employee uses his or her vehicle on company business, the liability will also fall on the company.
In these cases, specialist tyre management will assume even greater importance and fleettyreline can provide a comprehensive service via franchised car dealer networks, drawing on the resources and experience of parent company Group Tyre (UK) Ltd.
Operating from a constantly updated database, fleettyreline offers the franchised dealer a single authorised contact point and centralised billing service, whenever tyre replacement is required.
Tyre safety is key to accident prevention, with figures from the AA Trust Report “get a grip” indicating that tyres are a contributory factor in 10 per cent of accidents caused by wet road conditions.
Government accident statistics for 2003 revealed that, in winter, the number of accidents caused by wet road conditions increased by 267 per cent. These are some of the reasons that many in the UK tyre industry believe that the current legal minimum tread depth of 1.6mm is inadequate and recommend a minimum of 3mm.
Says fleettyreline: “In the specific area of tyre safety, our team remains dedicated to assisting in accident prevention. We believe that operators should take steps now to monitor the safety of all vehicles they manage and the dealership service we offer is a fundamental step in helping fleet operators to achieve this.”
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