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I’ve heard of this system being used in many instances. I think British Gas Vans have trackers on them and probably many other companies do?
The question that springs to mind here is why? š
Is it not taking technology beyond the extreme?:rolls:
What is the advantage here other than for management entering into BIG BROTHER tactics beyond personal trust, freedom and liberty towards their employees?
Re: GPRS Trackers?
Hi
I have both my new vans fitted with this system,not for the big brother tactics but for security of the vehicles,if its stolen then we can go and get it back.Also vwhen customers phone andask how long its going to be before the engineers arrives we can have a better guess to advise them.
And they are also being fitted into my personal cars.
Bryan
Re: GPRS Trackers?
Funny you mentioned trackers I was talking to a neighborer of mine today who works for a British Gas contractor and has just been given a new van with a tracker fitted. Within a week he was pulled in to explain why his van was in 2 areas which were not on his patch! I would not want one but can understand why any big bossiness would want to know were there vans where at any given time. He told me as his card has been marked he is looking to go self employed some time soon.
GooseEmployer’s argument…
If you’re not doing anything you shouldn’t be then what’s the problem with us knowing where the van is?
There is no defence to that I’m afraid.
But I guess it depends on the employer and how reasonable that they are with personal use of the company vehicle. It also depends on what you do with the company vehicle and also what’s allowed and the penalty for stepping out of line.
I wouldn’t like it and I doubt I’d ever use it with my engineers but then, as I said, there’s little defence against it being there.
Just my opinion of course.
K.
Re: GPRS Trackers?
As an employer I think trackers are going to be a useful tool now that the price has come down to a realistic level. For example, two engineers go out light on one day I can see who is closest when a call comes in on a certain area and pass the call to the closest engineer, saving me on fuel.
This is not the main reason for tracking vans though. With the new changes in personal tax, the liability on vans is now increased from Ā£500 to Ā£3000 per engineer per year of which I pay approx Ā£448 national insurance contributions. If I fit tracking in my vans I can show the tax man that they are only used for business purposes ans save me the Ā£ 448 and my engineers the tax on the Ā£3k.
I am looking closely at fitting this in all my vans……
JohnRe: GPRS Trackers?
My experience as a engineer working for a company would be to ask the engineers what they think of fitting trackers to to vans.
Many engineers have voted with their feet when this is brought in and the guys i know have nothing to hide and are doing no wrong.
Worth a thought to employers thinking of this.
John.Re: GPRS Trackers?
Hi All
The cost of the tracker system I fitted was Ā£1000 per van for 5yrs,it shows speed,idle,engine off ect every minute its updated.
We have proved that an engineer has visited the customers property when they blatenly state they was in and an engineer didnt come,the tune then changes to I must have been at the bottom of the garden or popped out.
Bryan
Re: GPRS Trackers?
A1TEC wrote:Many engineers have voted with their feet when this is brought in and the guys i know have nothing to hide and are doing no wrong.
Worth a thought to employers thinking of this.
John.
On the contrary, if an engineer votes with his feet, he must have had good reason. That type of engineer does not fit in with genuine responsible engineers who could well be carrying him.
We installed trackers in all our vans last September.
It is not big brother. Principal reason was tax changes which meant a tax penalty of approx Ā£60 per month per driver. Add to that the work & cost involved regards the submission of P11d forms.
Originally I had the engineers sign a disclaimer they would not use vans for private work, that was o.k. but if one driver was picked up this could draw attention to all vehicles, and should H.M. customs & excise decide to pursue the matter, all drivers would have to back-pay to April 06. It was made clear by the tax office that if one engineer draws attention, they will assume all engineers are abusing the facility.
I had a few ārumblesā and groans, but those that had something to complain about could not answer the question as to why do they not want trackers fitted? The girls in the office start at 8.15 and take the last phone call at 5 p.m. if they finish early, they cannot go early. If an engineer is on his way home at 4 then so be it, he probably didnāt stop for lunch, and there is little point in adding a call at that time of day.
As John said earlier, we can appoint the calls to the best placed engineer, also we can look and if we see one is running behind, and another has some room, we will transfer the call and ease the pressure off the 1st engineer. Additionally before we add another job to an engineer, we check progress first, if it looks like he may be overloaded, we donāt bother him. We donāt watch all day, better things to do, but it gives an indication and we can see for ourselves some of the topography problems.
It has reduced the fuel bills and insurance, enabled us to advise a customer who is chasing approx e.t.a. Also been useful when a customer has been out and tells us the engineer never called, or arrived too early/late.
Turned out to be an investment.
Alex
Re: GPS Trackers?
They were once fitted to our vans, however they have since been removed. I had no problems with having the tracker on the van as I had nothing to hide and wasn’t particularly bothered by it.
Some of the more “suspicious” engineers though didn’t like it one bit they saw it as big brother. They looked into it legally and found that there must be a “privacy” switch fitted. So that it can be turned off when not in work hours.
These switches had to be fitted to all vans after that. Myself I think all the s/w did was turn a neon on or off and the tracker was still active.
As I said all the trackers have now been disconnected as they proved not to be worth it. I think they can probably find out where you are via your mobile anyway.
Re: GPS Trackers?
superfix wrote:I think they can probably find out where you are via your mobile anyway.
Absolutely…… Same type of tracking done via the mobile phone….. Alot cheaper also š
Re: GPS Trackers?
The privacy switch will prevent display of the route taken, but the mileage & times from switch off to back on again is still recorded.
Therefore if you allow private use with driver paying private mileage in diesel, the distance is still tabulated. So if an engineer “turns it off” in the day time, or forgets to turn it on first thing, he may be responsible for the miles.
What you cannot do though is install these and not tell them, infringement of rights etc.
Alex
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