O R Jones has extended its relationship with TruTac to take its vehicle inspection procedures paperless.
TruTac’s CPT Daily Checks works alongside CPT Tacho Analysis and CPT Fleet Management in the Anglesey operator’s suite of compliance products.
It enables drivers to carry out their checks via their smartphone and the results are visible to maintenance staff immediately, says PSV Technician Martyn Owens.
“During lockdown, I looked into doing the checks digitally. It seemed a good idea, both operationally and because it meant that we could go paperless. From there, we decided to do the vehicles’ preventative maintenance inspection (PMI) checks digitally.
“Before that, we had to fill in a form, scan it and send it on, but TruTac and CPT introduced a new system that allowed us to do the full PMI check on a smartphone. It is very good software; any updates from DVSA are automatically added, so you don’t need to worry about them.”
The operator has instant access across its operating centres to vehicle status, while the difficulties that can be encountered with paper documents have been removed.
“If there was a defect on a coach parked in our depot in Holyhead, previously there would have been a book and the driver would have logged the checks in there – but I might not have seen that for two days,” continues Martyn. “Now the drivers do their checks on the smartphones and I can see the results straight away via the software, regardless of where they are.”
That is useful when coaches and drivers are away on tour, he says. O R Jones is also on the way to applying for membership of DVSA’s Earned Recognition (ER) scheme, for which the TruTac software is a help. TruControl includes a free-of-charge ER dashboard so an operator can benchmark itself against the required KPIs prior to applying to ER.