On Tuesday 16th July 2019, we hosted the first in a series of Van Fleet Forums at our installation centre in Chesterfield. The event focused on safety and compliance for van operators and gave delegates the opportunity to receive industry updates, meet leading industry suppliers and network with peers, who face the same operational challenges.
The event was supported by leading industry suppliers including Vehicle Weighing Solutions, Vision Techniques, RAC, LeasePlan, Road Safety Smart, FORS and TGS. The event included an exhibitor breakout and networking area, best-practice seminars and a factory tour.
We had an update from Graham Holder at FORS – he provided an update on the latest FORS standard, answered questions and gave valuable guidance to operators looking to get started on their FORS journey.
Andrew Drewary from Road Safety Smart gave a compelling and honest talk about driver fatigue and addressing and identifying this with drivers.
Vision Techniques gave an overview of the safety and compliance benefits of a camera solutions that might be suitable for a van operator.
Vehicle Weighing Solutions discussed the implications of an overweight vehicle – legislation surrounding this and how it can be avoided.
RAC and TGS both had outside demonstrations of their vehicles, including an innovative collaboration project between RAC and VWS for ramp weighing.
We showcased our award-winning VOPS2 (vehicle overload protection) system. Many operators that attended ran a mixed fleet, so although our focus was on vans, they were also keen to discuss weighing and overload protection systesm for their other vehicle categories. The factory tour was of great benefit to these guests, as they were able to see our Great British engineering in action, ask questions and see for themselves what equipment we fit and how it is fitted. They were also able to meet the expert VWS team – including our engineers, production staff and the fabricators – who they would not usually have access to.
The feedback has been excellent. We’ve been asked to run more regional events – in the South West, South East and Scotland so far. Local authorities who attended were able to bring multiple members of their team from different departments and each guest got something different from it – from procurement advise through to maintenance guidance. We have also been approached by many organisations who would be keen to get involved in future events from an exhibition and seminars perspective. It is really exciting that this already has so much traction. We ran it in response to customer demand and feedback we’d received from contacts we’d made at larger, national events. They wanted a more “involved” event, where they’d learn something and take something away from the event. The feedback has been that we’ve achieved that. We are very happy.
We are planning to continue with this event series throughout 2019. We are scheduling the next one, in the South West, in early October – details will be published soon. Any interest should be directed to katel@vwsltd.co.uk