FLEET managers have been given their starkest warning yet that police are prepared to 'get tough' over road safety and prosecute employers if their drivers are involved in accidents. A groundswell of opinion among police forces nationwide means that the role fleet managers play in ensuring drivers are safe behind the wheel is just as important as the behaviour of any driver involved in a crash.

Supt Gwynn Jones, of North Wales Police, warned delegates at an Association of Car Fleet Operators conference: 'Historically, corporate liability has not been pursued with any great vigour but police are now looking at the culpability of senior managers whose staff have been involved in a collision on the road.

'The company car is an extension of the workplace and so the general principles of health and safety in the workplace apply. If we can show that a fatal crash could have been prevented by measures in a company, then fleet managers and senior staff could find themselves in court. Employers and fleet managers have a duty of care to their staff and it is a duty that cannot be delegated.'