Council's vehicle fleet speed data corrupted

Speed data gathered by Dumfries and Galloway Council's vehicle-tracking system has been corrupted.

A freedom of information (FOI) request by the BBC asked the local authority for details of how many times its fleet management system had recorded incidents of speeding over the past three years.

However, it said it was unable to provide the information as the data from its telematics system had become corrupted.

It said it was working with its provider to identify "various sources of incorrect information" in order to be able to produce accurate speed recordings.

The BBC's FOI was submitted following a transport compliance report produced by the council this year which found some improvements on a previous study from 2022.

However, it also found there were areas where work still needed to be done - particularly in relation to driver behaviour.

"The council has a role for determining speed limits across the region and should be seen to be following them," the report added.

An audit found the local authority's practices were satisfactory in most areas but the level of assurance was found to be "low" in the effective use of telematics to ensure safe driver behaviour.

Telematics is a system which uses telecommunications and information technology to monitor and remotely process data from vehicles, equipment, and other assets.

The report said the fleet management system provided information on the location of council vehicles and how they were being driven - including their speed.

However, the audit found that some managers had expressed concerns about the reliability of the data and a call was made for a council-wide policy on the use of telematics.

The BBC asked for records of incidents of speeding over the past three years, the highest speeds recorded and whether any staff had been disciplined.

In its response the council said it was unable to provide the details due to corruption of the data involved.

"Transport and operations and our telematics provider are analysing reports weekly until we are confident that we can create a meaningful and robust speeding report," it added.