With government statistics revealing that around 3,000 road casualties are down to poor driver vision each year, Vision Express’s Sophie Tran tells Natalie Middleton about the firm’s work to protect the vision of corporate drivers when out on the road.
Why is driver eyecare so important?
At Vision Express we are looking to increase awareness of the need for eye tests as not many drivers realise that they need them, including fleet drivers.
Research carried out by Vision Express has found that more than 1.5 million licence holders have never had an eye test while one in five drivers have not had a vision check since they passed their driving test. And almost 3,000 road casualties each year are caused by poor driver vision, while 52% of drivers admit to not always wearing vision correction.
According to Department for Transport figures, more than a quarter of all road traffic incidents may involve somebody who is driving as part of their work at the time.
Eye tests also protect fleet managers and employers from health and safety regulation. These include The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act), which states you must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all employees while at work.
That’s why we at Vision Express have created a corporate plan, which is our Driver Plan, to help companies save costs and protect their employees by ensuring drivers have an eye test every two years.
How does Driver Plan work?
Once a fleet has signed up to Driver Plan, they can print off vouchers for employees. These cost £15 each and can be taken into any Vision Express store and entitle the employee to a full eye test including digital retinal photography. Other benefits include a discount of £45 on any prescription glasses.
There is no upfront cost and businesses only pay once the voucher is redeemed in store.
The voucher can be used in any Vision Express store. Following the acquisition of Tesco Opticians, there are nearly 600 Vision Express branches across the UK. We recommend customers make eye test appointments before they visit the store, either over the phone or online, as some of our stores can be quite busy.
How is Vision Express different to other corporate eyecare providers?
Our advantage is that we don’t charge upfront costs and we are very flexible. With us, all the client has to do is set up an online account. It’s up to the client to decide when they want to print out a voucher and how many they want to use.
Vouchers are charged at point of use, ensuring clients are not charged for lost or expired vouchers. Furthermore, unlike other major opticians, there’s no admin fee for clients looking to change details and no cancellation fees.
What sort of fleets do you deal with?
We have clients with thousands of drivers, including big names such as West Midlands Trains, XPO Logistics, Stagecoach Group, Jacobs, etc. We cover all types of drivers, including for cars and commercial vehicles, and companies of all sizes.
