Grey fleet: what the law asks when employees drive their own cars for work

“Grey fleet” is the industry name for employees’ own cars used on business journeys. It is easy to treat those trips as the employee’s affair: the car is theirs, the insurance is theirs, and the employer just pays mileage. HSE’s guidance says otherwise. Health and safety law applies to grey fleet driving exactly as it does to company cars — and HSE counts cars bought with a cash allowance as grey fleet too. This page quotes that guidance, sets out what an employer is expected to check, and puts the tax position beside it.

Eight ways staff travel by road, and the rules for each

HSE: the law applies to grey fleet

And on whose vehicle it is:

HSE does not soften the reason: “Driving for work is one of the most dangerous things workers will do.”

Commuting, and where it stops

“Commuting to work is not generally classified as driving for work, except where somone's journey starts from their home and they are travelling to a work location that is not their normal place of work.” That line matches the tax rules closely: a journey from home to a site that is not the normal workplace is business mileage for tax and driving for work for HSE.

The risk assessment: journey, driver, vehicle

“As part of your health and safety arrangements, you must do a risk assessment. The main areas you should look at in your risk assessment are the journey, the driver or rider and the vehicle.” The hazards HSE lists include “roadworks, traffic and congestion vehicle condition fatigue and distraction time pressures the weather behaviour of other road users”.

The journey

• “First, consider whether the journey is necessary.”
• “Eliminate or reduce long road journeys by combining with other ways of working or other forms of transport.”
• “The Highway Code recommends that drivers and riders should take a 15-minute break every two hours.”
• “Implement a reporting system, for workers to report all work-related road incidents and near misses.”

The first two are where a travel programme earns its place: a train ticket or a flight removes the driving risk entirely, and a booked hire car or pool car replaces a vehicle the employer knows nothing about with one it does.

The driver

HSE lists checks that include “ensuring licences, insurance, and MOTs are legal and up to date”, and adds: “You must make sure workers are adequately trained at no cost to them.”

The vehicle

HSE adds a caution about relying on the MOT alone: “An MOT certificate only covers basic defects and does not guarantee that a vehicle is safe”.

When it goes wrong

“The police lead investigations into road traffic incidents on public roads.” HSE then sets out the employer’s exposure: “You or your organisation could be prosecuted for Gross Negligence Manslaughter or under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 if: one of your workers is involved in a road traffic incident while driving for work and this results in the death of the worker or another person”, where the death is caused by a grossly negligent act or omission or by serious management failures. The Act itself is discussed on duty of care for business travellers.

The tax side

• Mileage: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, 25p after — on HMRC mileage rates. The VAT on the fuel element is on VAT on mileage claims.
• Own cars carry no benefit charge: “You do not have to pay anything on cars that directors or employees own privately.”
• Pool cars: “You do not have to pay or report on ‘pool’ cars. These are cars that are shared by employees for business purposes, and normally kept on your premises.” But “You’ll have to pay if a pool car is driven for private use, or if a car is shared by employees and does not qualify as a pool car.”

Company cars are taxed on a percentage of list price; that is on company car tax.

A grey fleet policy in six lines

• Ask whether each road journey is necessary, and whether rail or a hire car is available.
• Check licence, business-use insurance and MOT before the first claim, and annually.
• Require servicing and simple vehicle checks; say who checks.
• Set journey limits and breaks; plan around fatigue.
• Report incidents and near misses.
• Pay mileage at a stated rate, and say what happens to cars bought with an allowance.

Travelling alone is covered on lone working on business trips. This page quotes HSE and GOV.UK guidance as read on 2026-10-01; it is not health and safety advice for a particular organisation.

Common questions