UK Vehicle Tracking Laws, Privacy Policies and Data Protection

Whether by camera or cookie, our behaviour is monitored more today than ever before. Handling employees’ personal data correctly is vital, and that includes information about their journeys

With more and more security cameras flooding the streets of the UK, abiding by all the right laws that govern vehicle tracking cameras can feel like walking on eggshells. It's therefore crucial to find a vehicle tracking strategy that respects your drivers' privacy and contends with the legislation that dictates what you can and can't track.

If the process of finding a vehicle tracking solution that ticks all the correct boxes sounds slightly dizzying, we've got you covered. In this article, we give you a breakdown of all the vehicle tracking laws you need to be aware of.

Want to fast-track your way into finding your next vehicle tracking solution? Fill in our free quotes tool where we'll connect you with the providers that can fulfil your vehicle tracking needs.

Vehicle tracking laws: what's legal, and what's not?

The first thing to understand is that there are no laws that relate specifically to commercial vehicle tracking. What you do need to abide by, though, is what UK law says about using GPS technology for surveillance.

This law says two important things:

Firstly, the information that GPS tracking devices can gather about your employees is considered personal data. Therefore, this data must be dealt with in accordance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). We'll explain this in more depth later in this article.

Let’s put this in context by exploring the legality of the following scenarios:

In this short video, Derek Ryan from Verizon Connect (formerly Fleetmatics) discusses the use of privacy buttons, and how society’s attitude to ‘privacy’ is shifting

How to legally track your business vehicles

Tracking business vehicles (with the consent of the employees driving them) is not only legal, it makes complete business sense. Telematics tracking can monitor the quality of driving, fuel consumption, and can map out the fastest route for your drivers. It makes a business more agile, more efficient, more organised – and it can lower your insurance premium, too.

1. Write a vehicle tracking policy and get your drivers' consent

Tracking business vehicles without the knowledge of your drivers is illegal. The information recorded by any telematics system is considered personal data under GDPR. As such the information held by the organisation should be proportionate, transparent and reasonable.

So, the first thing to do is write up a clear GPS tracking policy, share it with all of your drivers, and obtain their consent to go ahead with your vehicle tracking plan.

Your GPS tracking policy should set out:

• The reasons you are going to track your vehicles
• The data you will collect from your vehicles
• How and when that data will be collected
• How you plan to use this data for the benefit of the business
• How you will safeguard this data
• Any disciplinary action you will take if a driver removes or disables a tracking device without your knowledge or permission

2. Find the right vehicle tracking system for your fleet

If the vehicles you want to track are only used by your employees during business hours, to complete business journeys, then any highly-rated vehicle tracking system should be able to suit your needs.

Vehicle tracking systems for private vehicles

If your vehicles are also used by your employees for private use, however, you'll need to install a vehicle tracking system with particular privacy settings.

Say your employee has a company car that they are also allowed to use as their personal car. You want to be able to track them during the working day, but not when they’re on their own time.

In cases like these, your vehicle tracking devices should have at least one of the following features:

• A privacy button that your drivers can press when they go off duty, telling the tracker to stop sending private data to your system.
• The ability to be disabled remotely by you when a driver clocks off.
• A timer that automatically disables the tracker at a set time or location.

Such functionalities enable your employees to go into privacy mode whenever they're not working, so they can enjoy the peace of mind of being ‘off-grid' (kind of like James Bond’s invisible Aston Martin, but not quite as cool), while you can enjoy knowing that you aren't invading anyone's privacy and breaking the law.

Here are some vehicle trackers that have privacy buttons:

Covert vehicle tracking systems

Covert trackers attach to the underside of the vehicle, so are not obvious to anyone driving it. They’re mainly used as a security measure, the logic being that a potential thief won’t be able to spot and disable it.

Covert trackers won’t be obvious to your employees. That’s why it’s especially important to let them know that they're there, and to get their consent.

Vehicle tracking laws for HGV drivers

The laws around vehicle tracking remain the same whether your employees are making short trips across town in cars, or long-haul journeys across the country in HGVs.

However, if you manage long-haul drivers, you'll need to be aware of the additional laws that apply to their journeys – namely the EU drivers hours limits that are designed to keep your drivers safe from the risks that come with fatigue. These state that your drivers must:

• Take a 45-minute break every four and a half hours
• Not drive for longer than nine hours a day
• Have an unbroken rest period of 45 hours each week, or 24 hours every other week

Alongside other rules.

To make sure your company is abiding by these laws, you're legally required to fit your HGVs with tachographs, which track the amount of time your drivers spend driving in a single stretch.

GDPR and vehicle tracking: how to handle tracked data

What changed for fleet managers back in 2018, when the Data Protection Act 1998 was replaced with the GDPR? The short answer is not a lot.

However, it's important to understand that the public nature of the GDPR's inception led people to be more aware than ever of their personal data, and the obligation that businesses have to protect the data that they have access to.

As well as obtaining your drivers' consent to having their vehicles tracked, to abide by the GDPR you also need to:

1. Only collect the data that you need to monitor for business purposes

There's a dazzling variety of data that can fit this bill. For example, tracking your vehicles' locations enables you to track your drivers' progress on jobs, give your customers accurate ETAs and updates, and recover any vehicles that break down or are stolen – the business justification for this is obvious.

As an example from the less obvious end of the spectrum, you also have a business interest in monitoring your employees' driving behaviour (for example, how often they speed, or brake too harshly). This is because calling out and stopping unsafe behaviour protects your business' reputation and your vehicles' conditions, and keeps the fuel you pay for unwasted, ultimately helping you to manage a range of costs.

Handily, a legitimate vehicle tracking system will not enable you to track anything that might be considered illegal. The responsibility you have is to ensure that you're not collecting needless data from your drivers while they're off duty.

2. Carefully safeguard the data that you collect

Make sure that the data your vehicle tracking system collects can only be seen and processed by users who have a legitimate reason to do so – for example, a back office fleet manager whose job description depends on it, or a driver whose performance you're appraising.

Do not allow any unauthorised person to process the data that's been collected and stored by your tracking system.

Your vehicle tracking portal and dashboards should be password protected. Ensure that only the right people are granted access to the system, and that they don't share any log in details with anyone else.

Under the GDPR, you must keep any data you hold about your employees as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Your employees also have the right to know what data you have collected about them.

Next steps: what vehicle tracker should I get?

Now you’re completely clued up on vehicle tracking laws, it’s time to choose the right vehicle tracking system for the job. Check out our research into the top five vehicle tracking suppliers for UK businesses, or read our guide to how much vehicle tracking systems cost.

Short on time? The quickest and easiest way to find the best system for you is to have suppliers get in touch with you directly. Our free quote-finding service can help you there. You'll just answer a few quick questions about your fleet, and we'll match you up with leading system suppliers that can cater to your unique needs. They'll then be in touch directly with a friendly ear to answer your questions, as well as no-obligation quotes that are tailored to you. This service is quick, easy, and totally free – why not give it a go?