Company car CCTV and tax

andrew1111

Recently started with a new company. My company car has a forward and internal driver facing camera and a tracker. The tracker is available for anyone to see in the office so they can see where I've been, when I use it for personal use. Also the cameras are used when I'm using the car for personal use. Is this legal to allow anyone at work to see where I've been in my personal time?

MattMattMattUK

andrew1111 said:

Recently started with a new company. My company car has a forward and internal driver facing camera and a tracker. The tracker is available for anyone to see in the office so they can see where I've been, when I use it for personal use. Also the cameras are used when I'm using the car for personal use. Is this legal to allow anyone at work to see where I've been in my personal time?

They should control access to the tracking data but your employer is allowed visibility of it. I am guessing that the video is stored locally? Does your contract allow personal usage of the vehicle? What has their visibility of tracking data got to do with tax?

Grumpy_chap

andrew1111 said:

Recently started with a new company. My company car has a forward and internal driver facing camera and a tracker. The tracker is available for anyone to see in the office so they can see where I've been, when I use it for personal use. Also the cameras are used when I'm using the car for personal use. Is this legal to allow anyone at work to see where I've been in my personal time?

Yes, it is legal as I understand it.

The dashcam is a common safety addition.

The tracker probably helps keep the insurance premium affordable and may be required for some contract billing activities as well.

I know there are a lot of people who have concerns about this type of technology, but I can't see how it does any harm but can be of benefit (to me and to my employer).  

How do the two devices work?  Is the information truly available for "anyone at work to see" as you suggest?  If that were the case, it may contravene GDPR.  Wherever I have worked with this type of system:
1. access to tracker data is restricted to a very controlled number of people, and the sheer volume of data means that the individuals with access are only reviewing on a "by exception" basis.  Usually, they are far too overworked to actually do anything beyond that.  There will, in addition, be exception reports of over-speed / harsh braking events etc which are autogenerated by the GPS system.
2.  the dash cam only records locally to the device but can then be accessed (by manually retrieving the SD card) if there has been an event warranting review.  The dash cam would need a communications method if it were to upload video to an external base, and most dash cams do not have this (though I guess may be available?)

Grey_Critic

You do not say what your job is and the need for CCTV - is your use of the vehicle subject to restrictions.

Back in the early 1980s when Tachographs were introduced a company with a large fleet wanted to know how they worked and how they would impact on their business so they asked for one to be fitted to a salesman’s car to try it out.

He was told that he should fit a new card each day and hand the old one to the transport manager. It did not effect his job he was told as it was a trial for the trucks. After a couple of weeks the company had an analysis of the cards.The company were impressed at all the data they were given but questioned why most of the data was at night. Turned out the salesman was doing private hire in his company car.