DIAL Contracts and Vauxhall Master Hire are among the first wave of fleet operators to hook up to the DVLA's award-winning electronic relicensing initiative. Developed over two years in conjunction with Cowie Interleasing, the scheme was rolled out to a wider audience at the beginning of the year and won the Special Award at last month's Fleet News Awards.

Once fully operational, the system will save large - and ultimately smaller fleet operators - hundreds of man-hours currently spent on manual applications for road tax. Dial's in-house project team has spent four months developing its own software to alert staff when vehicles need their tax discs renewing and the company expects to process some 3,500 licences in the first week alone for June renewals.