‘White van man’ a drain on resource and a danger to life

The archetypal ‘white van man’ driver is more than just a stereotype and is
costing employers thousands of pounds by causing so many accidents.

Company van drivers between the age of 17 and 30 are the most dangerous on
the road, accounting for around 20 per cent of commercial accidents.

Research by fleet management company Interleasing shows the cost of
accidents is also much higher among this group of employees – £1,134 compared
with an average of £898 for other company drivers.

Diarmuid Fahy, accident services manager at Interleasing, said HR
professionals were not providing enough training or getting recruitment right.

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"This is possibly a recruitment issue. When employing young people
companies must bear in mind their driving experience. Businesses should not
hand over the keys without giving some driver training," he said.

Interleasing analysed around 3,000 accidents by company van drivers and
found the majority (20 per cent) of crashes happened on a Monday morning.