Driver Buddy Defence uses infrared motion cameras and CO2 detection, and works with the Driver Buddy Defence app which allows drivers to monitor their truck, alerting them silently if someone attempts to hide in a lorry or trailer.
The app also allows drivers to upload real-time photographic records of statutory security checks to a secure server. Using GPS tagging, the app records location, time, date and driver identification. This can then be later produced to border security personnel, when required.
Dobbs Logistics, based in East Sussex, is trialling the Driver Buddy Defence App with its drivers. Steve Morgan, managing director, says the feedback is overwhelmingly positive.
“It’s bombproof photographic and real-time evidence that the checks have been carried out,” he says. “We can see what checks have been done, at what time and the exact spot they were carried out.
“It’s no comparison to manual forms that drivers fill out at present – they are not worth the paper they are written on.”
Driver Buddy is the brainchild of Barry Southon, a security expert who has worked with the US military and the Home Office.
The system has been two years in development and, says Southon, will give drivers and hauliers “peace of mind that they won’t face legal recrimination if a migrant is found”.
There are two main system options: Driver Buddy 4, with four infrared cameras around the vehicle and a dashboard monitor; and Driver Buddy 4+, with the addition of CO2 detectors.
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