Loreburn Housing Association has improved its drivers’ performance, reduced fuel costs and maximised uptime and driver safety with the help of Fraikin’s MYSMARTFLEET training programme, the charity revealed this week.
The housing association operates a 28-strong fleet of vans and has just taken delivery of a 3.5 tonne Maxus Deliver 9, supplied by commercial vehicle rental and fleet management specialist Fraikin.
Fraikin became the sole supplier of vehicles for Loreburn’s fleet after winning a competitive tender in 2024. The company also supplies the charity’s fleet with its MYSMARTFLEET training programme, which has seen Loreburn achieve the best safety performance among MYSMARTFLEET users and one of its staff members win Fraikin’s newly launched Driver of the Year award.
Billy Coupland, Loreburn Housing Association head of repairs and maintenance, said: “Fraikin has taken the time to get to grips with how our services operate and the pressures our teams face every day.
“Reliability, uptime, and driver safety are critical for us, and the consistency we have seen across the fleet since working with Fraikin has helped us maintain high service levels for our tenants.
“The impact of MYSMARTFLEET, together with the expertise and support we’ve received, cannot be understated.Fraikin has given us detailed, reliable insight into driver behaviour and allowed us to take a more informed and structured approach to safety.
“Without the platform, achieving the level of improvement we’ve seen across the fleet would simply not have been possible.”
MYSMARTFLEET comes as standard through its full-service contract hire package. The platform provides detailed, real-time insight into vehicle and driver performance, enabling organisations to monitor safety, efficiency and utilisation across their fleet.
Over the past two years, the charity has worked alongside Fraikin’s technical solutions manager, Colin Woolmer, to design and implement a dedicated improvement programme, using MYSMARTFLEET data to track key indicators such as speeding and harsh driving events.
This has enabled targeted training efforts, which the housing association said has resulted in measurable improvements in behaviour across the fleet, with the added benefit of a clear uplift in overall safety performance.
The programme has proven so successful, that since deploying MYSMARTFLEET Loreburn Housing Association has seen one of its drivers achieve the highest safety score among 2,500 drivers measured by the platform that cover up to 25,000 miles per year, underlining the impact of the initiative.
Woolmer said: “Working closely with Loreburn Housing Association has allowed us to deploy a structured improvement programme that is grounded in real operational data.
“By analysing key MYSMARTFLEET metrics, we have been able to pinpoint where changes were needed and support drivers with targeted, practical guidance.
“The beauty of this scheme is that it can be replicated, creating a framework that other Fraikin customers can follow to achieve similar results.”
Loreburn Housing Association also benefits from comprehensive servicing, repairs, road fund licensing, regular safety inspections, annual MOT testing, tyre management, roadside assistance, and 24/7, 365 customer service support.
Fraikin’s user-friendly online web portal, FRAIKinVIEW, also provides a complete overview of all scheduled maintenance work and the ability to track and monitor progress.
Founded in 1982, Loreburn Housing Association is a registered charity and social landlord. Its dedicated repairs and maintenance team assist with the day-to-day care of more than 2,500 homes across Dumfries and Galloway.
