“From a health and safety point of view, I want to protect drivers, their passengers and the public from speeding”

Mr Ford explains: “I know all the ways of using up time when employees should be working because I reckon I’ve done them all myself at some point.” However, it wasn’t until one of the Stoke-on-Trent-based company’s employees was involved in a serious crash after leaving late to get to a morning job that the issue of time management was brought sharply into focus. Mr Ford says: “It was a very bad crash and it could have cost several lives, including the driver’s mate in the van. We were sued for a large sum and our insurance premiums went through the roof. From a health and safety point of view, I want to protect drivers, their passengers and the public from speeding.”

The company looked at four different vehicle-tracking systems and two years ago opted for the web-based Quartix system because, says Mr Ford: “It offered the best value, does what it claims and doesn’t give us features we don’t need. I like the fact that it’s fitted discreetly out of sight behind the dashboard – as with most commercial vehicles, security is always an issue and we don’t need anything to tempt a break-in. The cost benefits have been remarkable, in terms of insurance savings, vehicle costs and staff productivity. We have saved thousands of pounds.” Mr Ford adds: “15 minutes saved per van per week pays for Quartix and we have saved that money many, many times over. But, more importantly, our drivers are safer, other road users are safer and our accident rates have dropped 300%. Our vehicles only now suffer from routine bumps and scrapes.”

Quartix, which has offices in Cambridge and Newtown, says it has more than 600 clients and currently at least one new customer is signing up to use the company’s in-vehicle technology each day. Founded in 2001, the company uses GPS and the Orange GPRS network to provide a variety of services, including daily timesheets automatically e-mailed for each vehicle, route maps showing a breakdown of each journey, including speeds, distances and stopping points and real-time tracking so vehicles can be pinpointed by office-based staff.

Quartix says that proven commercial benefits of its technology include significantly lower vehicle operating costs ranging from fuel savings, reduced overtime and maintenance; faster and more responsive delivery times; better vehicle security; as well as helping employers fulfil a wide range of duty of care responsibilities. Using the daily e-mail reports, Mr Ford says he could now see each vehicle’s maximum speed for each journey at a glance, as well as see that journeys didn’t take less time than was safe. He says: “I can now show this information to our insurance company, which helps keep the cost down. The effect on the vans is to reduce their maintenance and fuel costs, through better fuel economy and less wear and tear.

“We use the e-mail reports as a back-up to our time sheets. They resolve issues such as confirming on-site times with customers, or clarifying instances when the engineers arrived, but had to wait for access. “As a mobile clocking-on system, it just makes sure that everyone plays the game. In the end that’s good for the firm at all levels because it makes us efficient and gives us a competitive edge. Happy customers mean more work for everyone.”

And, he admits: “I suppose I’m something of a poacher-turned-gamekeeper, because I’ve seen it all and even done it myself. Tracking the firm’s vehicles discourages people from being ‘cab happy’, finding reasons to go off the site or from going home on the firm’s time. These days, we see the vans in the yard at the end of the day being readied for the next job, rather than it being left till the morning. “Each time I see another firm’s van in a layby, and it’s still there when I come back, I know what’s going on. I feel good about the staff I have, to know that it doesn’t go on in our firm. After the accident, there was a clear reason for needing the tracking system. All the same, not everyone was happy about its introduction, but now people just accept it as part of the way the firm works.