EXCLUSIVE: Informa standardises choice of car manufacturers for drivers

To ensure its fleet has low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Informa has standardised the choice of
car manufacturers for its company drivers.

The media organisation’s set manufacturers are now Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Skoda and VW, and the scheme is managed by fleet provider Leasedrive.

Thomas Humphris, head office HR and UK reward director at Informa, said: “Employees can actually get at least one car across the whole range that falls within the 160g/km CO2 level. From a corporate social responsibility perspective, we felt that was something we really wanted to proceed with.”

Informa, which employs 3,400 UK staff, has a fleet of 100 cars for field-based sales staff and some senior employees.

The company has conducted analysis around its mileage trends over the past five years, and found that employees were reducing their mileage in order to get a better spec car with their £450-a-month car allowance.

Humphris explained: “I could say ‘I am only going to do 20,000 miles a year, and I will get a much better car for £450 a month’.”

As a result, Informa has set up a mileage pool, setting all its cars at three years and 60,000 miles,
to ensure standardisation across the fleet.

The organisation is also currently conducting its annual driver checks, which are in line with its duty-of-care obligations and management of work-related safety.

In January, each employee driver, and their secondary driver, is checked for licence details, penalty points, convictions, category entitlements and any medical requirements.

Employees are then classified as low-, medium- or high-risk. The medium-risk category must have another check in six months, while the high-risk group will be checked quarterly.

Informa has also sent out its company car policy to each driver’s home address, along with key information around accidents and servicing.

Read more about company cars and emissions