Expanding bus company Grant Palmer Ltd has signed up with leading driver licence verification and fleet management software specialist Jaama to use its sophisticated and secure
The family-owned Flitwick, Bedfordshire company operates a 35-strong bus fleet including single and double deckers across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Previously Grant Palmer carried out a cumbersome and time-consuming administration process to check its 55 bus drivers’ licences, however, implementing Jaama’s online solution is & providing significant administrative savings.
Once Grant Palmer’s bus drivers have returned a signed three-year mandate giving their permission for the checks to be completed, the entire process is conducted online without manual intervention.
The company’s customer relations manager Emma Palmer, wife of owner Grant Palmer, said: “As part of best practice compliance procedures and to meet the requirements of our insurers we validate bus drivers’ licences during the recruitment process and then bi-annually.
“Our previous manual system was hugely time consuming and involved photo copying licences and managers contacting the DVLA by telephone to check individual driving licences. It was a very lengthy and time consuming process that had to be repeated every six months.”
Following the recent implementation of Jaama’s online solution, Mrs Palmer said: “All our drivers have to do now is sign and date the mandate and the rest is automatic. It also means that we do not have to personally see and cross check drivers’ licences every six months.”
Following mandate signing, drivers’ licence records are interrogated on the DVLA database, the latest records on a driver-by-driver basis are returned to Grant Palmer within 24 hours of submission, highlighting any irregularities and enabling the company to manage by exception.
Mrs Palmer added: “Having made the decision to introduce a more robust and administratively straight-forward driver licence checking system we looked at what was available in the marketplace. The Jaama system is very easy to use and the company has been very helpful with the implementation process.”
Martin Evans, Jaama’s sales and operations director, said: “Implementing our driver licence checking service not only removes the administrative burden for Grant Palmer, but it enables the company to intelligently profile its drivers and highlight exceptions whilst also ensuring a comprehensive audit trail is maintained.”