Leasedrive Velo Blog

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Interestingly, we advised our clients’ drivers to watch out for a change in the law that could affect them financially. It seems our words of warning have rung true.

From March 31 this year, councils outside of London became entitled to issue fines for driving infringements caught on CCTV.

Previously, only traffic wardens and police could issue tickets outside London. In addition, traffic wardens no longer have to place a Penalty Charge Notice under the wipers of the offending vehicle but can issue PCNs remotely. This has led to accusations of traffic wardens sitting in cars issuing PCNs at a distance.

Several companies are already complaining bitterly about an increase in parking fines. To a degree, this is inevitable but if some of the complaints are to be believed traffic wardens would appear to be taking advantage of the changes.

Do they receive bonuses for the number of PCNs issued I wonder?

Whatever, when the changes to the Traffic Management Act took effect, we warned they could result in a doubling of parking fines if the trend in London was followed.

At the time, the top non-London authority for issuing fines was Gwent in South Wales.

It will be interesting to see when official figures are released if this is indeed the case. Apparently, for London, this will not be until 2009.

The AA has already gone on record to state it fears that camera enforcement will show no degree of flexibility.

It recommends drivers put more pressure on local authorities by appealing against the fines as the majority of appeals are accepted.

With over 200 councils in England and Wales able to issue PCNs remotely, it’s a tack worth pursuing, as inevitably the number of fines will rocket.

Meanwhile, fleet managers should be on high alert to monitor the situation carefully.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

I see the Government is about to get tougher on road safety. It wants to top the country league tables once again for having the best road safety record.

Certainly, a very commendable objective. However, I do have to take issue with its approach.

From what has come out of the corridors of Whitehall, it would appear that ‘at work’ drivers are going to be key targets.

I can already hear the groans around the industry. We’ve had the ‘Driving at Work: managing work-related road safety’ guide, we’ve had the Corporate Manslaughter Act, whatever next?

It seems the Government will seek to have all ‘at work’ drivers undergo a sustained programme of continuous driver training. Presumably, employers will be expected to foot the bill for this ‘worthwhile’ on-the-job training programme.

The road safety minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, has declared that because a third of all crashes involve ‘at work’ drivers this section of the driving population is firmly in the Department for Transport’s sights.

All well and good, but what about the other two-thirds?

What is the point of the DfT targeting ‘at work’ drivers if it ignores the rest of the driving population?

The maths does not add up, nor does the logic. Improve the statistics but ignore the 66% of crashes involving ‘non-at work’ drivers.

Do I get the impression that organisations are becoming the scapegoat for Government failings?

We had a good road safety record and we want a better one. Nobody will argue with that objective but take a holistic approach to the problem. Fortunately, we are talking about Government initiatives to be put in place from 2010. Let’s hope that the Government takes heed of the feedback from its proposed consultation exercises.

We certainly need to point out the glaring omission in Government’s proposed new strategy.

Does anyone else want to say to these idiots – come on, give us a break!

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Roddy Graham, ICFM chairman and by his own admission is ‘no stranger to the dessert trolley’, is cycling from London to Paris for charity… really.

You know I wrote about potholes a few blogs ago. Well, now I’m becoming an expert on them.

My avoidance technique has gone up by literal leaps and bounds. A recent AA survey supports the view that local councils are spending as much money in meeting claims for damages as they are in filling them in the first place.

There are an estimated 3.5 million potholes in England and Wales and I’ve had to cycle around a good few hundred in Surrey.

Why? A few months ago in a moment of madness, (probably after a very good lunch!), I agreed to take part in a 250-mile charity bike ride from London to Paris. This would be a steep challenge for even serious athletes, however as you know, I carry a few extra inches around the waist and am still “no stranger to the dessert trolley!”

With this event looming in a few weeks, I took the bold step of buying a bike and embarking on my training programme. However, with around six weeks to go, I don’t think that Lance Armstrong will be looking over his shoulder although I’m trying to stick to his performance programme.

On a serious note, this will be a tough bike ride but our aim is to raise as much money as we can for Marie Curie Cancer Care. The charity celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and our team of 14 riders is hoping to raise a minimum of £5,000 for this great charity.

Our team will start from Parliament Square at 6am on Thursday, 19 June and will ride 70 miles to Folkestone before catching a late afternoon Eurotunnel shuttle to Calais.

Day two will start painfully for most at a more civilised 9am and will cover 70 miles between Calais and Abbeville.

Day three will be all about getting through the ‘seven valleys’, covering 55 miles from Abbeville to Beauvais. To the relief of very sore bottoms and much else, the final day from Beauvais is just another 55 miles into Paris down the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Apart from our own company, we’ve received generous support from Thrifty Car & Van Rental, who are kindly providing a 17-seater minibus.

If you can see your way to helping us, it would be really appreciated.

Online donations to the Leasedrive Velo London to Paris Bike Ride in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care can be made by visiting the events website here.

Alternatively, please send a cheque made payable to ‘Marie Curie Cancer Care’ to myself at Leasedrive Velo, Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 3GA.

We will be keeping a photographic record of the ride on our ride and hopefully we will all arrive safely in Paris and enjoy a few glasses of red before returning to Blighty.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

The trouble with local council elections is that unless there’s one happening in your patch, they are of zero interest. And that’s assuming that you have any interest in them when they come around to your neck of the woods in the first place.

So, it was intriguing to witness how high up the news agenda were the elections for the Mayor of London, especially given they affected less than one in seven of the UK population.

Red Ken versus Boris the Buffoon. I guess, when you spell it out like that, there was bound to be some interest!

What does it all mean for us involved in the fleet industry?

Well Porsche must be rubbing its hands with glee as Boris has said he will scrap the planned October changes to the congestion charge.

Cars producing more than 225g/km of CO2 will not be walloped with a stinging £25 charge.

Neither will cars falling in the A or B VED bands be exempt. I personally fail to see that as a positive step forward. Then again, I’m not a Londoner or live there, so who am I to comment?

It’s for the good citizens of our Capital to decide, and they turned out in record numbers to vote Ken out of office after eight years in charge.

I personally don’t think that we have heard the last on the subject of congestion charging and while zero-emitting vehicles will remain exempt, expect some review in the future.

Another potential change could be a reversal of the proposed extended congestion charge west. Boris will consult with residents in the affected area and abide by their wishes.

What else?

The cycling politician, like Livingston, intends introducing a cycle hire scheme, based on the one so successfully launched in Paris last July and he intends doing away with his hated bendy buses. These he intends to replace with modern versions of the traditional red Routemaster buses, complete with conductors. He also wants to fast track (pardon the pun!) the modernisation of the Victorian London Underground system.

Interesting times for our Capital. Let’s hope that Boris Johnson can be the flag bearer for some much need transport reforms, which result in a clean, free flowing integrated transport system.

Now wouldn’t that be good if it could be extended nationwide.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Well, how times have changed. I clearly remember the price of petrol at the pumps used to be around 30 pence per gallon in the early 70s. Now, it’s touching £5 per gallon.

More recently, the $100 price per barrel of oil was deemed the high point of crude. Besides that ceiling being broken regularly in recent months, we have the prospect of a barrel commanding $200 by the end of the year according to Opec.

Throw in the fact the major oil companies are making profits of £3 million an hour and you’ve got the sure-fire recipe for rising discontent. Two hundred odd truckers protesting down Park Lane surely is only the start. High oil prices don’t just affect HGV operators but anyone reliant on any form of motorised transport, not forgetting domestic and commercial users of heating oil. The first quarter of the year has been a body blow to moral, the pocket and the bottom line.

It’s easy to blame the oil companies but they are scrambling around in more inhospitable places on Earth trying to discover that elusive new giant oil field. Just as oil reserves gradually diminish, we have the new giant economies of India and China demanding more oil. Not exactly a supply and demand equation that balances!

Add to the problem, the speculators switching from dollar-valued assets to oil to make another quick buck, and the price of oil rises further. Some estimate they have contributed to nearly a third of the increase. In the middle of all of this, we have Saudi Arabia refusing to increase production.

Accounting for over 10% of world oil production, the Kingdom is in the unique position of being able to influence prices. Not only has it declined to help meet demand but also has actually reduced production twice in the last year and a half when oil barrel prices weakened. With the demand from the two fastest growing economies skyrocketing, there has been no chance of lower prices.

In all of this the Government is not doing badly as its VAT receipts rise in line with rising fuel prices but how long before it has to do something to mitigate the effects on industry and the consumer?

Back in the 70s, Government interventions led to widespread fuel economy measures including the temporary lowering of the national speed limit. As I’ve alluded to in my blogs before, a 50mph blanket speed limit may well become reality in time.

Meanwhile, we all have to tighten our money belts, take a deep breath and hope for better times around the corner. The trouble is we have probably seen the last of sub $100 oil barrel prices and could have to live with prices double that figure as the norm.