Author: News Desk

Van Drivers – what’s ahead with coronavirus?

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Well, it’s a strange time to be alive, that’s for sure. Panic is mounting over the threat of coronavirus and for your average van driver, that could be a good or a bad thing.

The upside is that more and more people are choosing not to go out unnecessarily and have goods and services delivered to them instead. So many of you can look forward to busier weeks ahead (just think, it will be like Christmas all over again with a ton of deliveries each and every day). Happy days?!

The downside, of course, is what happens if you actually get the virus yourself. And being in and out of businesses each day makes you particularly vulnerable not just to catching it, but potentially spreading it too. Get hold of hand sanitizer if you can, don’t be afraid to ask businesses if you can wash your hands at regular times throughout the day and take a large pack of tissues and a van bin to dispose of them. Consider buying and using disposable gloves if you’re coming into a lot of contact with people. 

Many van drivers form the backbone of the gig economy and many are saying they simply can’t afford to take time off if they get sick. With a budget due this week, we hope that the new chancellor makes moves to do something positive to provide financial help to those who need it, should they be sick. Nobody needs a super-spreader making things worse. 

And of course, what happens for those of you who drive longer distances if we get to a stage where travel restrictions are put in place? Smart fleet owners may be able to set up an inter-regional relay type of structure where deliveries still get from a to b, but who knows if handovers will be possible? We’ll need to look to countries like Italy to see how they handle things and if there is anything we can learn from them. 

Hopefully builders and traders won’t see too much impact in the short term, but of course, there may be supply chain issues down the road (no pun intended) with goods from overseas getting to us on time. And there is of course, the threat of recession down the road all around the world, not just here. 

One thing you can do is make sure you keep an eye on your own money and keep hold of what you can in case you need it to get through the months ahead. Thankfully, we can help with that, by offering the best van insurance prices that will help you keep hold of as much of your hard-earned dosh as possible. In the words of one supermarket – every little helps. Just don’t go and blow all your savings on loo roll. 

When you’ve got to go…

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News this week is a study that has been done into Britain’s motorways and how long you’ll have to wait between rest stops.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for those of us down south, it’s the dreaded M25 that tops the poll, with a huge 43-mile gap, between Cobham services in the south-west, to South Mimms, Hertfordshire in the north. Given how terrible traffic usually is, given that the stretch in between includes the exits for Heathrow, the M3, M4 and M40, that could be the longest 43 miles of your life, if you need to pay a visit. Bear in mind too, that Cobham is one of the newest additions to motorway services, and what those poor drivers had to endure previously, when the gap spanned between Westerham in Kent almost half way around the motorway.

The Midlands too, does not escape the agony of busting for a pee on the road. The gap from Warwick to Telford covers a long gap along the M40 and M54. It’s a huge 63 miles to wait, although thankfully, with less traffic than the M25, you may just make it in time. 

Back down south, the dreaded M4 between Reading and Membury also has a long wait of 39 miles between services.

Of course, being busting for a pee and safe driving are not natural bedfellows. You can get easily distracted and find yourself concentrating on that moment of blessed relief, not what is going on the road. And it is never advised that you use the hard shoulder to go – over 100 people a year are killed on the roadside and you don’t want to be part of that statistic. If you really do have to go and there are no services in sight, it’s always recommended that you pull off the motorway and find yourself a pub or petrol station off the busy road and go there. Many sat navs now can be programmed to find your nearest, so use it! 

Just one more word of caution. With the increase of coronavirus that we are seeing, take extra care in keeping your hygiene at its best. If you need to open doors when you get to the services, use your elbows, not your hands, wash your hands thoroughly before and after you go and try and wear gloves when making deliveries. If you have hand sanitizer, use it. A service station could be a prime breeding ground and van drivers will make the perfect super-spreader of the virus, so do your bit to keep yourself and the public safe. 

You may be getting anxious about needing a pee and coronavirus, but at least with Cheap Van Insurance, you don’t need to break a sweat about getting the best renewal price this year. That’s one less thing to worry about.

In the market for a new van?

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It’s that time of year again. The new registration plates are about to be issued next month, and van drivers up and down the country dream wistfully of a brand new, shiny van with all the optional extras a driver could dream of.

And of course, now is the time that the van manufacturers launch their newest models to ensure those who are in the money are ready to show it off from next month with the latest in technology.

This past week, both Mercedes and Volkswagen have showcased their new offerings, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500XD, and the Volkswagen Caddy V5.

The Mercedes is a veritable force to be reckoned with. With almost unlimited variations and added extras, this is a van driver’s dream. A three-litre turbo diesel V6 engine gives as much grunt as the beefiest Scottish van driver could need for getting up those steep hills and glens. A seven-speed automatic gearbox, four-wheel drive and 325 pounds of torque gives it almost off-road abilities. There’s a 10.5” touchscreen, navigation, in-built cruise control in the premium plus package, while the premium package adds lane assist, a rear camera and active brake assist. There are also options for heated mirrors, an electric step at the back, and illuminated front steps. 

Reported to have incredible visibility and more space in the back than a DPD depot, this doesn’t come cheap, but will undoubtedly be the choice of those for whom money is no object and as an investment for a van that’s read to last the distance.

At the other end of the market, for just£21,000 there’s a new VW Caddy in town. The fifth generation of Caddy, this has all the convenience of a hatchback in van form. There are three versions – the Caddy, Life and Style, with more kit as standard on all models. All the Caddys can carry up to two pallets of goofs in the back, but a revamped dashboard with 10” touchscreen makes being behind the wheel a much more comfortable and enjoyable experience. 

Two petrol and one diesel options are available, and there’s even one that can carry additional passengers too. 

If you are in the market for a new van, don’t forget to fill out our free quote form, to know the best possible van insurance prices out there – with the money you save, you may just be able to stretch to one or two added extras on your van spec!

Van Drivers in Stormy Waters

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Well, hardly surprising in this weather, but van drivers up and down the country have been hitting the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. A DPD driver up in Fordingbridge had to be rescued after his van got swept away by floods when the river burst its banks, (so if you’re expecting a parcel, you may not be getting it). Thankfully, locals were there to pull him to safety. Over in High Wycombe, a van driver was left with serious injuries after being hit by a suspected drug-driver. Meanwhile, in Norfolk, a van driver blamed a drug-induced coma for crashing into a parked car, before hitting the wall of a house before finally stopping when he’d ploughed into a church wall.  Up in Scotland, another van driver finds himself in court after fatally wounding someone during Storm Dylan.

It’s not great on van drivers, is it? While we can’t really say anything about the drug user besides hoping he gets what he deserves, in this stormy weather, the chance of an accident it infinitely higher for us all, and if it’s your work and pay packet that’s at risk… when the weather is this bad, what’s the right thing to do? 

Granted, nobody wants to be on the road when the wind is blowing and the rivers are bursting their banks all around us, but delivery drivers and tradesmen still have jobs to do. Staying home till it passes would leave many without work for more than the duration of the storm. 

It all comes down to balancing the risk. Here are some things you can do.

  • Check the weather forecast before you leave. Know what you’re going to be facing so you can be prepared.
  • Check local news to find out about any floods or accidents. Social media is great for finding local incidents before the news picks them up.
  • Stick to major roads where possible. Avoid back roads and country lanes where trees might be down and you’ll find yourself stuck.
  • Plan your journey and let someone know your intended route. Check in regularly so they know where you’re at. 
  • Don’t travel when the storm is at its worst. If you’re late, you’re late. It’s better than the alternative. 
  • Be prepared. Take warm clothes, a phone charger, blankets and food and drink. If you get stuck, you’ll need it. 
  • Make sure your van is in good nick. Check tyre pressures, oil levels and that there’s nothing preventable that could go wrong. Check your breakdown kit is stocked and ready if needed. 
  • Fill up before each journey. That way, if you need extra fuel, it’s there. 

We hope this is the last of the storms for the year, but, this is Britain, where snow in April isn’t unheard of, so be prepared for anything and stay safe.

Shh! Driverless Vans are Real!

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Over in America the times, they are a changin’. Yes, over the pond, permission has just been granted for the testing of the world’s first driverless van. 

It has no controls – no steering wheel, no foot pedals, no rear-view mirrors. Nothing. Nada, Zip. It’s also smaller in size than most American cars. It’s envisaged that the vehicle will be used for delivering hot food, like pizzas, groceries and small packages, in the first instance.

Nuro, the manufacturer of autonomous delivery vans could spell the end to your American brothers, the American men (and women) in vans. 

Testing will start in the coming months in Houston, Texas. It’s the first test of its kind, as previous tests of driverless cars in the USA have always required a human in the front who is (theoretically) able to use their own controls to stop the vehicle or avoid an accident if one looks imminent. (Although that hasn’t always worked out quite as planned). Tests will be overseen by the US Department of Transport.

The vehicle, which has a top speed of 25mph, is being heralded as a ‘milestone in the industry’, but it’s likely safe to say the UK van industry doesn’t need to break a sweat just yet. Let’s think about it. How many pizzas do we actually deliver here in the UK? How about all those twisty-turny narrow lanes, complex traffic systems and double-parked cars most UK van drivers have to contend with each and every day? It’s not quite the long straight roads on grids, with quiet, wide-open roads that they have in Texas, is it? How many vans the size of small cars would we need to actually make all the deliveries that we need? Mrs CVI could fill one with her weekly Waitrose shop in one go.

If the future really is driverless, it’s safe to say that here at least, van drivers only have to worry about getting the best van driver insurance deal for themselves, and not the future and being laid off as a result of a robot. Not just yet, anyway.

Pasty Wars in Cornwall

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Just weeks after reporting to you that more and more of you are embracing healthier living and a vegetarian lifestyle, the news is that down in Cornwall, there’s been a war of the van-driving carnivores. 

Yes, the usual calm of Launceston, Cornwall was the site of a major turf war between Cornish Pasty Van Man Scot Weller and his rival Benjamin Harbour. Mr Weller was driven at by Burger Van Man Benjamin Harbour when a turf war got out of hand. The battle took place on an industrial estate where Mr Weller had, for years, traded, undisturbed, plying his pasties to the happy customers of the local area, with things only ever getting difficult when people wanted to debate Gregg’s vegan ‘steak slice’ with him.

However all that changed and the relative calm of Launceston was upended when Mr Harbour and his trusty burger van decided that Weller had had it too good for too long, and drove his van directly at Mr Weller. 

It was ground beef at dawn, apparently. 

Mr Weller had previously been the victim of multiple threats by Mr Harbour, who wanted the pitch for himself. The threats and intimidation eventually peaked with Mr Harbour losing his cool and driving towards Mr Weller, in a bid to get him to move his pitch. Thankfully, Mr Weller had already been and spoken to the police, and had been advised to record any interactions between the two men, which led to the whole thing being captured on camera.

As a result of the unassailable video evidence, Mr Harbour was taken to court, where he was duly punished after pleading guilty to driving without due care and attention and common assault. 

When it comes to our personal preference, we’d always choose pastry over a bun, and so for that alone, we’re glad that Mr Weller has been allowed to continue to pitch his pasties undisturbed, hopefully for many years to come. 

… Tune in next week for the battle of the East London spirulina seller versus the yogi. (Perhaps).

Parking – a Van Drivers Biggest Waste of Time.

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A new study by Vanarama shows that the UK white van delivery fleet is somewhat in crisis. (Tell us something we don’t already know).

We can all relate to the continual difficulty in finding places to park while we drop off our deliveries. But, as traffic and the parking situation worsens across the UK, the pressure on delivery drivers to make more deliveries each day has grown to a whopping expected daily delivery rate of 150 parcels per van. 

In the UK, 5.82 million small businesses depend on van drivers to deliver to them or on behalf of them to get their work done. With 1.2 million parking spaces in the UK, there are 3.24 million van drivers needing to use them (let’s not forget about regular road users too). The maths simply doesn’t stack up.

The report shows that over half a million of you struggle to find parking, typically taking over 20 minutes to find a spot to park for each delivery and in total, you each waste around 1 hour 40 minutes of each day in the hunt for somewhere to park your van. This costs the UK economy over £76 billion each year. Many drivers frequently risk parking tickets simply because they don’t have time to find an alternative option, with the pressure to get those deliveries done. And for those that do find somewhere legal to park, quite often, the space isn’t big enough for their van to fit, an issue now shared by many car drivers, thanks to the popularity of large 4×4 vehicles. 

If you take the number of van users in the UK (3.25 million), and the time it takes to park them each day, that adds up to combined 6.99 billion (yes, billion) hours wasted each year, looking for parking. 

So, what’s the solution? Well, as the study concludes, the fact is that more commercial vehicle parking needs to be created up and down the country, particularly in high street locations. But who is going to do it? What is really needs is one or two forward-thinking towns to step up and create the spaces and prove that doing so has a positive impact on illegal parking, congestion and pollution. Only then will there be a case for others to follow suit.

UK’s Most Polluted Places Revealed:

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Sometimes after a hard day behind the wheel, you may get home, wash your face or blow your nose and be shocked by the amount of black gunk that shows up. Or maybe your lungs feel a little heavier than usual and you’re struggling to breathe. And no, we aren’t just talking about London drivers.

You’ve been hit by the van driver’s inevitable enemy – pollution. 

Incredibly, recent research from the University of Birmingham shows that London isn’t the worst offender when it comes to the black stuff. The study, which compared pollution in 146 places around England, Scotland and Wales showed that you don’t have to be in one of the bigger cities to be affected by high levels of pollution. In fact, it was Luton which was worst affected by the highest concentration of nitrogen oxide, (that’s exhaust fumes, to you and me), relative to its size, traffic and population. 

London still had the overall highest levels of pollution, but thanks to so many using public transport rather than cars and vans, there was much less nitrous oxide lingering in the air, compared to the more polluted towns and cities. So for all that moaning about the congestion charge, apparently it is actually quite a good thing. 

In fact, the study showed that it was the towns and cities with the densest population and the poorest public transport (where most people used cars to get from A to B), which were the most affected. Because of the smaller area than larger conurbations like London, the amount of pollution was densified and more intense than in more spread out cities with better public transport and fewer cars on the road. 

Some would be expected, such as those cities around London, like Gatwick and Stevenage, but others you would expect to see, like Manchester and Birmingham, fared better than expected.

As electric vans start to become a practical solution, maybe now is the time to start considering making your next trade in a hybrid or at least a model with technology that harnesses energy more efficiently to help do your bit. Either way, it seems that the days are numbered for the old, battered, high emission vans and instead, we’re seeing the start of quiet, efficient fleets to better suit the healthier lifestyles you are all adopting too. It can pay off when it comes to your van insurance too – many insurers offer discounts or incentives to greener drivers. Fill out our super fast, low-emission form for the most competitive van insurance quotes, and see what a greener model may do for your next renewal. 

Lists in full – Places where pollution was better than expected:

  1. Milton Keynes
  2. Stoke-on-Trent 
  3. Weybridge
  4. Aldershot 
  5. Macclesfield
  6. Livingston
  7. Swansea
  8. Manchester
  9. High Wycombe 
  10. Birmingham

Places where pollution was worse than expected:

  1. Luton
  2. Crawley
  3. Leamington Spa
  4. Cardiff
  5. Coventry
  6. Stevenage
  7. Tamworth
  8. Worcester
  9. Oxford 
  10. Bradford     

New Report Shows White Van Men are Turning to Healthy Eating

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Well, it’s almost as if you lot almost listen to us, isn’t it? A new study, commissioned by Vauxhall Motors has found that white van men (and women) are ditching both the booze and the fast-food in search of healthier lifestyles. 

Well done, you guys.

The report fid that 37% of you cut back on the booze, trying alcohol-free beer and wine and many of you are even working out more outside of the van driver working day, hitting the gym and, for 2% of you, going so far as to take up yoga or Pilates. 37% of van drivers are now hitting the gym, according to the report and you’re even cleaning up your smoking act, with 22% of you saying you have reduced how much you smoke or quit entirely.

If that wasn’t enough, more of you are also turning vegan, and 2 in 10 of you are opting for vegetarian or meat-free meals. And even those of you who aren’t giving up old habits are saying you wished you could eat more healthily (31%). This is big news, considering previous reports have said up to 60% of you admit to not eating healthily and not eating fruit or vegetables every day. 

It seems that more and more of you are searching for a healthier lifestyle and are doing more than many others to make those positive lifestyle changes. 

While we undoubtedly applaud you for taking those positive steps, we can reassure you that we will continue to bring you the latest in all news from the world of van driving and won’t be turning into a lifestyle blog and teaching you how to knit your own vegan quinoa any time soon. Nope, we’ll just stick to doing what we do – bringing you the best possible van insurance deals and the latest news, views and opinions from here at the heart of CVI HQ. But we just may do it, sipping on a fruit and wheatgrass smoothie, once in a while. After all, we can’t have you lot putting us to shame, can we? 

More Needs to be Done For Working Driver Safety, Report Finds

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UK Road Safety Charity, IAM Roadsmart has delivered a call to action for working drivers and their employers, stating that more needs to be done to keep working drivers safe and reduce the levels of accidents on the roads.

Their report has found that there were 5,506 serious and fatal crashed that occurred in 2018, where at-work drivers were involved, a number that has increased over time. This is in sharp contrast to the overall number of deaths and serious accidents in general, which has shown a reassuring decrease over the same amount of time. Also worrying was that almost half of employers expected their employees to answer their phone whilst they were on the road. A shocking 13% of those surveyed said that the hard shoulder was a suitable place to take or make work phone calls, and 17% of driving employees said they had been involved in an incident as a result of a phone call from a colleague.

The head of the charity said that not only do employers have to wise up about what is acceptable for their own, in-house drivers, but that many don’t realise that grey-fleet (self-employed, but working for the company) drivers are also liable and subject to the same codes of conduct and laws as those who are fully employed.

The report goes on to demand that more needs to be done by businesses in terms of educating drivers on codes of conduct and behaving responsibly whilst behind the wheel and that companies need to have a responsible set of rules for all their drivers, employed or not.

Many employers and employees fail to acknowledge that while taking hands-free calls is legal, it is still a significant distraction that they should actively be avoiding. And the reality is that for businesses who have a fleet of drivers, around 30% of that fleet will be involved in some kind of collision whilst on the roads each year.

Employers need to have solid health and safety whilst driving at work plans, but many still do not.

Meanwhile, almost a third of drivers for work do not have the correct insurance and are lacking any or adequate cover for business travel, rendering their policies useless. And, while we don’t have all the answers for improving road safety, that one we can help with. Simply fill out our online form and let the best insurers come to you directly with a range of insurance policies for van drivers that will cover pretty much all eventualities.

Stay safe, out there!

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