Tristar: award-winning safety on the road with VisionTrack

Chauffeur firm uses cutting edge cameras to improve safety and driver behaviour

Founded in 1978, Tristar pioneered airline door-to-door chauffeuring alongside companies such as Virgin Atlantic. Today, more than 30 years since its first journey, it has grown to become one of the world’s leading ground transport providers that consistently delivers a highly reliable, first class service.

In June 2016, Tristar Worldwide won the fleet safety technology trophy at the 60th anniversary RoSPA Awards, along with two Gold awards for health and safety and fleet safety. Passenger safety is at the heart of everything it does, which includes continually researching the latest technology as it develops to see how it can be applied to its fleet.

Pioneering fleet technology

One highly successful initiative has involved working with VisionTrack, utilising its specialist knowledge of in-vehicle CCTV and installing its recently launched, cutting-edge VT1000 cameras.

Janusz Kozlowski, fleet manager at Tristar, commented: “Responsibility for minimising road risk begins with our Group CEO, board of directors, and our dedicated Fleet Management team. Their commitment to raising road safety standards is reflected in our continual investment in comprehensive training schemes and innovative fleet technology, including installing over 130 VT1000s in our UK fleet.

We invest a lot of time, money and effort into training our chauffeurs to be safer on the road. But for now we are focusing on some of the technology we employ to enhance our chauffeur, passenger and other road users’ safety.” 

With a 170 pillar-to-pillar wide angle lens, the VT1000 camera records highquality footage in 1080p and has a built-in GPS receiver to ensure vehicle location and speed accuracy. This helps fleets mitigate the risk of insurance fraud and monitor vehicles to improve driving standards and operational efficiency. It also benefits from a security-led design, whereby a key is needed to access the memory card and the recording angle is locked in place, negating any concerns around footage being compromised.

As soon as the vehicle is switched on, VisionTrack’s forward-facing in-car cameras spring into action – all vehicles on Tristar’s UK fleet are fitted with them. These cameras track the chauffeur’s location, speed, acceleration and braking force. The footage they provide gives the business a phenomenal insight into behaviours on the road, plus the ability to use high definition video to identify and enhance training using real life examples.

“The cameras provide an unbiased view of any situation and enhance safety by helping us discover potential issues around driving standards,” says Kozlowski. “Our Fleet Management Team is alerted and can quickly address any such concerns through tailored training sessions for chauffeurs.

“We’re dedicated to providing an outstanding travel experience for each of our clients, combining exceptional reliability, a high level of safety maintained throughout the world, sophisticated technology and 24/7 support teams to ensure our clients receive a first-class service that offers excellent value for money.

“We want our clients to love travelling with us, but we also want our people to love working for us and that includes ensuring their safety – something the VT1000 cameras have helped us maintain.”

Simon Marsh, VisionTrack’s managing director, says: “As well as encouraging good driver behaviour, it is important that every fleet has the opportunity to utilise vehicle cameras that provide irrefutable evidence in the event of an incident, especially where fault is being disputed by a third party. The VT1000 device is perfect for businesses like Tristar. It requires minimal investment, opening up cutting edge technology and high definition footage to fleets of any size.”

Speaking of the VT1000’s security features, Marsh says: “Many vehicle cameras used by fleets were originally made for individual car users and, as fleet adoption of these devices has boomed, some camera companies have added locking cases as a security afterthought.

“These cases do not always provide adequate protection against users accessing the format button and deleting footage that a fleet operator may need to see. This is where the VT1000 differs – developed with integrated locking case and lockable recording angle so fleet managers like Janusz can have peace of mind. Plus, it comes with alarm outputs so  it can be integrated into third party telematics and is made for fleet use.”

Results that speak volumes

‘We’ve been using the VT1000s since February 2016 and have seen a remarkable difference in the quality of footage available,” commented Janusz. “We’re very pleased with the cameras and how they are working for us, helping us to maintain our high standards and achieve our goals as a business.” 

Tristar’s high service standards are driven by their personnel, from reservations agents to those on the road, in every global hub.

For more informatiom, please contact Simon Marsh, VisionTrack's managing director, Email: info@visiontrack.com, Call: 01246 225 745 Website: visiontrack.com