It’s the Conservative Conference again and at least two extraordinary things happened as the party political event climaxed with the Prime Minister’s speech. Firstly, the PM “boogied” on to the stage to the unmistakable Swedish melodies of Abba – not something you see every day, every conference, or even every decade. And secondly she committed…
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It’s been two years since FORS released an update to its bronze, silver and gold standards – but the time has come for v5.0 which is being released this month to take effect in fleet audits from 14 January 2019. One noteworthy introduction is the bronze requirement for transport operators to have counter terrorism policies…
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So that’s it then… we’re off to Zambia for Transaid’s big cycle challenge in two days. That is, me, and a team of seven other Microlise colleagues including all sorts of characters from marketing, software development, field engineering and sales. Putting my name on the list as a potential Microlise “athlete” in early 2017, I was fairly…
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Telematics has come a long way since the first rudimentary systems became prevalent on our highways just less than two decades ago. The early telematics solutions were primarily used to monitor vehicle location, but the technology has moved forward rapidly in the past decade and is now much more sophisticated, creating significant opportunities for road…
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This summer the government published its Road to Zero strategy document. In it, it has set out the ‘devil in the detail’ as it aims to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacture of zero emission vehicles, while reducing emissions from conventional vehicles. In doing so it highlights that there is…
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There are a growing number of items in the truck cab competing for dashboard real estate and until now none of them were permitted to encroach the swept area of the windscreen by more than 40mm. This has, in the past, made it a challenge when placing forward facing cameras on the windscreen to ensure…
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NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, has released its annual Rural Crime Report, based on claims data gathered from 300 agent offices across the UK. The report offers insights into the financial impact of rural crime and the impact it has on those affected. The report states that the cost of rural crime was…
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Royal Assent has been given to the new The Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act, which has been introduced as part of the preparation for the UK’s departure from the EU next year. The act relates to an operator permit scheme, and gives the government the ability to create one should it be required once the…
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No technology blog would be complete without the obligatory reference to Big Data. While it is a hyped term, there’s no doubt that it does offer the potential to supercharge the value proposition of telematics. Not in the distant future, but very soon. In the UK alone there were a total of 180,248 drivers on…
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Congratulations to OEM partner MAN Truck & Bus for its recent win at the Motor Transport Awards where theTGX was named Fleet Truck of the Year by a panel of operators. The TGX beat off competition from the DAF CF, the Scania P-series and Mercedes-Benz Actros to win the award. The MT website reads: “If…
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Most of us use GPS every single day. We become the dot on the map every time we take a journey with our smartphone… or go online to find out where our children are and when they are going to be back from school… or check in to our favourite restaurant. People are rendered helpless…
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In an effort to address the driver shortage, the Road Haulage Association (RHA), together with Close Brothers Asset Finance and TRS Training Ltd have launched a new programme to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recruit young drivers to secure the skills they need for future growth. Through the ‘RHA/Close Brothers SME Apprentice Scheme –…
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