Interview
The Fleet Manager
Name: Rachel Williams
Company: Hydrock Ltd
Role: Fleet Manager
Term: 5 years
How did you arrive in fleet
management?
What is the fleet-related scenario
or task that you most dread?
I have worked for Hydrock for 10 years
primarily as a Project Commercial Manager.
When the recession hit it had an impact on
the amount of commercial project work I was
involved with and I had a couple of days free
to take on other duties. At the time, our fleet
was small enough for me to manage in that
time and it’s grown ever since. 90% of my
time is now spent on fleet related matters.
We are lucky to have an excellent accident
record, however, receiving news of an
accident has to be the one scenario that I
dread the most.
As a child, what did you want to
be when you grew up?
A hairdresser, my mother and sister were
hairdressers and I wanted to follow in their
footsteps, I soon stopped when I realised how
much I was going to get paid for washing
people’s dirty hair!
With hindsight, would you still
wish to do this now?
NO! I prefer clean cars to dirty hair!
How many vehicles do you look
after?
We have 252 vehicles which are made up of
26 4x4s, 74 company cars, 72 commercial
(LCV), 2 minibuses and 78 grey fleet.
What is the most common tasks
you deal with?
I am fortunate to have a Fleet Administrator
work with me to cover the day to day tasks
(servicing, maintenance etc.) My days are
spent keeping up to date with Health &
Safety legislation, sourcing new vehicles and
demonstrators, updating policies and
analysing data.
What is the most enjoyable
aspect of your role?
Although there are benefits of having a fixed
list of vehicles for employees to choose from,
Hydrock has a user chooser policy. This is
great for me to see what new vehicles are
being released and additional functionality
they bring.
What are the most challenging
aspects of being a fleet manager?
We must keep abreast of excessive fuel
consumption, unfair wear and tear and
service and maintenance costs.
What has changed for the better
in recent years?
Most of our company car drivers are
conscious about their BIK and the main
manufacturers have lowered their emissions
in the ‘popular’ vehicles, this has given them
a greater choice and reduced our carbon
footprint.
Before you knew about FMS,
what did you use to manage your
fleet?
It felt like I was back with the dinosaurs, I was
juggling 10+ spreadsheets, all linked together
and a nightmare to manage!
What led you to seek a new FMS?
fleet in 2011 there were 45 vehicles, by 2013
we had 78 and I was aware that I was
struggling to keep the fleet and drivers legally
compliant using my spreadsheets.
What has changed for you in your
role since moving over to FMS?
I have more time to keep up to date with
legislation changes, new vehicle releases and
ensuring our drivers and vehicles are legally
compliant.
Have you seen any specific
benefits of an FMS?
FleetCheck has saved time pulling
information together from various
spreadsheets and allowed time to analyse the
data by the online reports. This has enabled
us to save money on fuel consumption,
service and maintenance costs and excessive
mileage.
How about legal compliance –
how has using FleetCheck helped
you in this area?
Recording insurance documentation, drivers
licence checks (via licence bureau), MOT,
service & maintenance records, grey fleet
documentation and daily logs ensure all our
vehicles and drivers are safe and roadworthy
and has been a great asset to our Fleet
Management.
Which person would you most
like to be stuck in a 3-hour traffic
jam with?
I would love to be sat in the front seat as a
passenger with James Corden in his carpool
karaoke!
When I took over the management of the
18