When faced with spiralling insurance premiums following a spate of accident claims, Staffordshire-based heating and plumbing company, Brenden Fern Limited, acted on the recommendation of its insurer, RSA, and fitted a two-camera VUE CCTV system to its fleet of maintenance vehicles. Ultimately, this showed that vehicle CCTV cameras are to defend drivers.
Eighteen vehicles had forward facing and driver facing cameras installed, and within weeks the technology proved its worth.
Following a head-on collision involving one of Brenden Fern’s vans, data captured by the on-board VUE CCTV system was downloaded and emailed to the company’s insurance broker.
The footage proved Brendan Fern’s van was being driven safely and liability rested with the other vehicle’s driver. As well as providing proof of non-liability, there were numerous other benefits. Brenden Fern explains:
“Having the VUE camera system saved a great deal of insurance time and expense. Once the footage proved we were the innocent party our damaged vehicle was collected more quickly and immediately replaced with a hire vehicle, meaning less disruption for our clients.
“As liability was accepted quickly by the other party it speeded up the pay-out process and saved on solicitors’ costs.”
Witnessing the protection provided to one of their colleagues, Brenden Fern’s drivers realised how useful vehicle CCTV cameras are to defend drivers, safeguarding them against erroneous insurance claims and wrongful blame for accidents. With driver support, VUE CCTV has recently been fitted to an additional two new vehicles in the Brenden Fern fleet.
Brenden Fern now plans to undertake regular monitoring and driver behavioural training and assessments using actual driver footage as part of the company’s safety strategy. The use of VUE’s CCTV technology is also included in Brenden Fern’s PPQ tenders to highlight its approach to road safety.