New app tools designed to enable easy checking of abnormal loads have been immediately adopted by a quarter of the UK’s police forces.
The enhancements – made to FleetCheck’s Driver app – are already in use by Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG), Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Gwent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Staffordshire forces.
The tools are based on new checksheets created by the fleet software specialist working in conjunction with National Highways and CMPG, which have also been added to the College of Policing web site. These have been built into the Driver app, with the two main documents covering instances when the police stop a vehicle with an abnormal load or are escorting one through their area. These exist in variants for both UK registered and foreign vehicles.
A driver-facing version of the checksheets has also been incorporated into the app for private companies that specialise in escorting abnormal loads in order to self-audit compliance.
Barrie Wilson CMILT, commercial fleet consultant at FleetCheck, said, “CMPG have been running an initiative called Operation Nightstare that is designed to clamp down on illegal abnormal loads and has found a very high level of non-compliance. The work we have been doing with them and with National Highways is very much designed to dovetail with this campaign, helping operators to meet their legal obligations and the police to inspect vehicles.
“The checksheets have been added free to all commercial users of our Driver app – in use by fleets totalling 220,000 vehicles – and mean that legal requirements can be checked quickly and easily using any smartphone or tablet in a structured manner, helping both compliance and enforcement.”