This document outlines our procedures regarding the cleanliness of the fleet.
As much as we would like to hire a cleaner to relieve most of the burden of cleaning, we are a 24/7 operation and do not have adequate facilities on site, so this is not practical or financially viable currently.
With this in mind we need your cooperation to keep the fleet looking its best. Standards must be high, as this has a huge impact on customer perception of us.
The below guidelines are to show what we expect from you, but ultimately we ask that you apply common sense.
For Short Shifts
(e.g. School contracts, local jobs, etc)
- Empty any rubbish from passenger and driver areas.
- Check and sweep if necessary the interior seats and flooring.
- Mop the interior floor.
- Clean anything else that needs attention.
We also ask that school contract drivers give the interior and exterior an additional, more thorough clean every Friday afternoon.
For Medium length Shifts
(i.e. driver wage of less than 6 hours, such as an airport run)
- Empty any rubbish from passenger and driver areas.
- Thoroughly sweep the interior seats and flooring.
- Mop the interior floor.
- Clean the exterior with a bucket and brush, if required.
For Long Shifts
(i.e. driver wage of more than 6 hours)
- Empty any rubbish from passenger and driver areas.
- Thoroughly sweep the interior seats and flooring.
- Mop the interior floor.
- Wipe interior side panels, and windows if required.
- Clean the exterior using a jet wash (at garage or in yard). Using the brush instead is acceptable, if the vehicle isn’t particularly dirty.
There is a jet wash in the lock-up, you are welcome to use this, if water is plentiful. Alternatively, you may use the jet wash facilities at local garages, including Tesco Supermarket, most Esso garages, Shell on Preston New Road or the ‘Wash Car’ on Clifton Drive. Most of these cost £2 for 5 mins, which you can use the Velos card for. This should be sufficient time to use the jet wash lance. If there are any particularly dirty areas, it’s worth giving these a scrub with the brush BEFORE you pay for the machine.
There are head torches available to use in the lockup, these make it much easier to clean at night.
All Drivers
In addition to the above, we expect you to keep on top of other aspects when time allows. On some shifts you may find that you have paid periods when you are not on a break between jobs away from base. We ask you to use some of this time productively, as you are being paid to work. For example polishing windows, cleaning interior panels, storage areas, dashboard and drivers controls.
Reporting Cleanliness Issues
As well as spot checks made by the management team, there will be a new section added on the divers app, which will allow you to report cleanliness issues as and when required as well as upload photos. It is impossible for us to check every vehicle after every job, so this system allows us to monitor and coach the worst offenders.
Please always allow a few minutes before setting off to check, report and rectify any issues. While in an ideal world you should never need to clean before setting off, it is always worth bearing in mind that it’s easy to miss some things when cleaning, especially in the dark. There’s no need to report if it’s just a couple of bits that have been missed, only when it’s obvious no effort has been made.
Failure to clean a vehicle not only is unfair on the next driver, it impacts on the customer experience and can have even more serious consequences, such as a child finding something they shouldn’t on the next journey.
Ultimately, while we aim to make the process as easy as possible, it is a mandatory part of the job and failure to meet the standards we expect will result in disciplinary action being taken.