With UK delivery businesses hiring well over 10,000 temporary drivers between them for this year’s Black Friday and Christmas online shopping season, road safety is a major factor that fleet managers are considering in the run up to what could be the busiest online shopping season on record.

To meet expected demand delivery businesses are hiring thousands of temporary drivers this year. This poses a risk in its own right – fleet managers need to check a driver’s driving license to ensure that they don’t have a habit of breaking speed limits to meet deadlines. Where many of the major delivery companies such as Yodel and Amazon have put processes in place to regularly check driver licenses, smaller companies may not have.

Where many are in liveried vans that have been specially hired for the season, a large number will be unmarked owner driver operations. Not all vehicles are new, though demand for e-commerce deliveries has contributed to a 17% increase in new van registrations this year. For companies that livery their owner driver vans or use unmarked vehicles alike, they need to ensure that these meet or surpass DVLA vehicle safety standards. Overloading is another issue, with fleet managers needing to ensure that the vans in their fleets do not exceed their maximum axle weight.

One fifth of all non food shopping is now done through e-commerce and this year alone there is expected to be 20% more deliveries in the three months leading up to the New Year compared to this time last year. Both statistics are set to see increases in the next 12 months as well, so the delivery industry is entering a boom unlike it has ever seen before. Good safety precautions on the part of fleet managers will make the season much more profitable and safer for all those who encounter a delivery business’s vehicles.