Earned Recognition has now gone live, following a year-long pilot involving more than 60 truck and bus operators.
At the Commercial Vehicle Show in April, DVSA chief executive Gareth Llewellyn presented framed certificates to Staples’ transport manager Dave Baker and Mike Wallaard, compliance consultant.
Wallaard says: “Reducing the number of roadside checks on our trucks is welcome but our main motivation was to stay abreast of what we saw as an important new development.”
With help from Truckfile, Staples moved to electronic record-keeping for its fleet of Mercedes-Benz Actros tractors. The vehicles were supplied by dealer Intercounty which, like its counterparts in the Mercedes dealer network, was already using Truckfile for maintenance records – so setting up the appropriate system was simple.
Inspectors are given regular, comprehensive updates and because the information is all stored electronically, rather than on paper, they can view these remotely.
“We’ve received tremendous support from the team at Truckfile,” adds Wallaard.“We now use the system to maintain service records of our trailers and our extensive line-up of vans, forklifts and plant, too – in total that’s around 600 pieces of equipment.
“Compared to the headache of compiling and storing paper records, it’s been a revelation in terms of both ease and efficiency.”
Wallaard (right) and Baker (left) are pictured with Truckfile operations director Paul Whittingham.