Legislative compliance and implementation of best practice policies and procedures by UK “O” Licence holders are recognised as being at the cutting-edge and the new European Union regulation is designed to tackle inconsistencies across Europe.

Martin Evans, Jaama sales director, commented: ‘The UK is widely recognised as setting the benchmark for professional competence and road safety. That, in part, is due to the fact that many organisations use sophisticated online fleet management systems to keep tabs on all aspects of their fleet operation to ensure O Licence obligations are met.’

The new European Union regulations come into effect on December 4 2011 and according to the Freight Transport Association will have “little, if any, practical effect” on the O Licences or obligations of UK fleet operators.

Mr Evans said: ‘The UK fleet transport sector – whether in relation to cars, vans or goods vehicles and HGVs – is a very mature market and arguably has the toughest regulations that transport operators must meet.’

Many major transport operators in the UK have turned to Jaama’s Key2 Vehicle Management system to help them to meet their "O" Licence responsibilities. Those organisations include: AK Worthington, DHL Supply Chain and the Sheffield Insulation Group.

He continued: ‘With a massive legal and corporate focus on occupational road risk management, it is essential that companies have a thorough vehicle audit trail in place, which applies to both vehicles and drivers.

‘We have spent more than £6m developing Key2 Vehicle Management over the past seven years. The continuous addition of new modules to meet rules and regulations – frequently developed in partnership with existing customers – use the latest technology to make fleet administration easier for fleet managers and ensure maximum legislative compliance.’

'It can be very easy for a busy transport manager to allow what could be a routine maintenance issue or a driver issue relating to working hours or driving licence validation to slip through the net.

‘Key2 contains built-in rule sets that make it impossible to omit information thus giving a transparent audit trail and reporting by exception. Key2 delivers operational and safety compliance as well as financial and administrative savings for large and small fleets operating nationally and internationally.’