Fleet compliance for contract cleaning and security companies
Your vans sit at client sites, your patrol cars run through the night and many staff drive their own cars between jobs. VCT puts them all on one list, checks every MOT and road tax overnight, and keeps the records a client or insurer may ask for.
A walkaround check before every shift, day or night
A cleaning supervisor at 5am and a patrol officer at 10pm both need a quick check that the vehicle is safe. In VCT they open their phone's browser, see today's vehicle and tap each item green, amber or red.
Anything amber or red reaches the office straight away with the driver's note. DVSA's guidance on van daily walkaround checks says to check the van before your journey, and the checklist in VCT is yours to edit. More on the walkaround check app page.
- Staff can swap or hand back a vehicle from their phone
- Drivers only ever see their own vehicle and details
Where cleaning and security fleets get caught out
Your vehicles follow the contracts, and your staff change more often than in most businesses. That is where things slip.
Vehicles spread across sites
A van might live at a client site, go home with a supervisor or move between regions. VCT checks every vehicle with DVLA and DVSA each night. Each vehicle has a depot, so you can filter by region or contract.
Staff using their own cars
Cleaners and mobile officers often drive their own cars between sites. The MOT reminder goes to their home, so the office rarely hears about a lapse. In VCT, staff add their car from their phone and it is checked every night.
Patrol vehicles that rarely rest
Patrol cars cover the same routes night after night. Officers flag worn tyres or a failed light on the daily check, and each vehicle's DVSA MOT history shows advisories worth watching, mileage and average annual use.
New starters every month
With high staff turnover, a driver list goes out of date fast. Add new starters as drivers and they do the check on their own phone from their first shift. Record their licence check and consent in VCT.
Staff cars on the same list as your vans and patrol vehicles
HSE's guidance for employers whose workers drive for work says the law applies to grey fleet vehicles as well as company vehicles. It describes a grey fleet vehicle as one a worker owns and drives for business, and says commuting is not generally classed as driving for work.
HSE's page on keeping vehicles used for work safe says privately owned vehicles used for work should be safe, serviced, insured and have a valid MOT. In VCT a staff car sits in the fleet table like any other vehicle.
- Road tax checked with DVLA and the MOT checked with DVSA every night
- Business insurance expiry shown next to company vehicles
Read our guide to grey fleet duty of care, or see how VCT handles grey fleet compliance.
A defect found at 3am is waiting in the morning
Every red or amber item becomes work in the queue, with critical items at the top. Give it an owner and track it to done. The defect only clears when a later check marks the same item green.
HSE's guidance on keeping vehicles safe says employers should have procedures for reporting defects and fix them promptly. The work queue keeps a record of both.
- See which drivers are checking and which aren't, over the last 30 days
- Service records and costs on each vehicle
Night shifts and early starts
Security work runs through the night, and cleaning often starts before dawn. HSE's guidance on planning and managing journeys says sleep-related incidents are most likely between 2am and 6am and between 2pm and 4pm, and asks employers to consider tiredness when planning work schedules. VCT covers the vehicle side, with the check ready whenever a shift starts.
From the first site to the full record
- Import your vehicles. Upload your spreadsheet as a CSV and preview every change before it's saved.
- Staff add their own cars. From the driver app in their phone's browser.
- Drivers check on their phones. At the start of each shift. Amber and red items go to the work queue.
- VCT checks overnight. Road tax with DVLA and the MOT with DVSA, with reminder emails before anything runs out.
- You see what needs action. The Action centre shows how many vehicles are road legal and what to do first.
Answers ready when a client or insurer asks
Clients and insurers may ask how you check vehicles and how quickly you fix defects. The compliance pack is a PDF for a period and depot you choose, covering road-legal status, every inspection, every defect and how fast it was fixed, MOT tests, services and costs. Set up a depot for each region or large contract and you can send just that part of the fleet.
- A weekly round-up email to admins and managers on the day you choose
- Export everything at any time
Still on a spreadsheet? See VCT vs spreadsheets.
What it costs for a cleaning or security fleet
£3.50 per vehicle a month, falling to £2.50 per vehicle for bigger fleets (minimum £35 a month), ex VAT. Every vehicle costs the rate for your fleet's size band, with everything included. Staff cars used for work count as vehicles, the same as vans and patrol cars. You pay monthly, with no contract.
For example, a security firm with 15 patrol cars and vans pays 15 × £3.50 = £52.50 a month. A cleaning company with 12 vans and 20 staff cars has 32 vehicles: 32 × £3.25 = £104 a month. A firm with 40 vans, 25 patrol vehicles and 45 staff cars has 110 vehicles: 110 × £2.75 = £302.50 a month. Over 200 vehicles, get in touch.
Texts are the only add-on, at £10 a month for up to 200 texts. If prices go up, existing customers keep the price they signed up at. See full pricing.
Cleaning and security fleet FAQs
Do staff need to download an app?
No. VCT runs in the phone's web browser. Staff sign in once and see the vehicle they use for work. There's nothing to install from an app store.
Do staff cars count towards the price?
Yes. A staff car used for work counts as a vehicle, the same as a company van or patrol car. Every vehicle costs the rate for your fleet's size band.
Does VCT track where patrol vehicles are?
No. VCT has no vehicle tracking or GPS. It checks MOT and road tax every night, runs the daily walkaround check and keeps defects in a work queue, so it can sit alongside a tracking system you already use.
Can VCT check SIA licences or DBS checks?
No. VCT covers vehicles and driving licence check records. It doesn't manage SIA licences or DBS checks, so keep those in the system you use for staff screening.
Are driving licence checks automatic?
Not yet. Today you record licence checks and the driver's consent in VCT, drivers can share a DVLA check code from the driver app, and VCT shows when each check is due. Automatic licence checking with DVLA is coming soon.
Is there a free trial?
There is no free trial. Enter a registration and your email on the homepage instead, and we'll email you a link to a demo with your own vehicle looked up live.
More in our van walkaround checklist, our guide to licence checks for employers and on the MOT and tax reminders page.
See it with one of your own vehicles
Enter a registration and your email on the homepage. We'll send you a link to a demo of VCT with your vehicle looked up live with DVLA and DVSA.