Mushrooms are commonly eaten among vegans and non-vegans alike, but many feel that mushrooms are not suitable for food. Below are a few of the reasons that I personally choose not to eat mushrooms.
(Note: Before anyone starts jumping on their keyboards to chastise me for posting this article, please note that these are my personal reasons for not eating mushrooms. I am not telling you that you cannot eat mushrooms. You are entitled to your personal preferences just as I am entitled to mine.
If you are offended by my personal decision concerning what I eat, then . . . Hmmm . . . I guess we should cancel our lunch date because I also don’t like brown sugar on my sweet potatoes. I prefer Creamy Italian Dressing instead.)
Vegan vs Plant-Based
While there is definitely overlap with a vegan diet and a plant-based diet, they are different.
A plant-based diet is a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. A whole-food, plant-based diet uses only unrefined forms of these foods. This type of diet is usually adopted for health reasons.
In contrast, a vegan diet omits animal products usually for ethical or environmental reasons. Generally, vegans do not eat meat, dairy, eggs, or honey or wear animal products, such as leather, or use products tested on animals.
While I do agree with most of the ideology of veganism, I do not consider myself a vegan. Rather, I do my best to follow a whole-food plant-based diet because I believe that is the diet that God gave to humans when He created them. (See Genesis 1:29 and Genesis 3:18, which name grains, seeds, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and herbs.)
I believe that, since God is my Creator, He knows what is best for the health of my body.
Genetic Composition of Mushrooms
If you want to adhere to a plant-based diet, it is important to know what a plant is.
Mushrooms (the reproductive body of a certain phylum of fungi) are not plants. In fact, the genetic composition of mushrooms is actually more similar to humans than to plants.
For example, when plants are exposed to sunlight, they create energy through photosynthesis. When mushrooms are exposed to sunlight, they produce vitamin D (just like humans).
Much like humans, mushrooms store reserve energy as glycogen. Plants store reserve energy as starch.
The length of the ribosomes in mushrooms shows an amino acid that is similar to muscle. In fact, there are several amino acid sequences that are similar to heavy-chain proteins in mammals.
The cell walls of mushrooms are made up of chitin, which also composes the hard shells of insects, crabs, and other arthropods; plant cell walls are made up of cellulose.
The cell membranes of mushrooms contain ergosterol, a sterol that serves many of the same functions that cholesterol serves in animal cells. Ergosterol is not present in plants.
Plants have chloroplasts or chlorophyll. Mushrooms do not.
The protein and amino acid sequences of mushrooms are more similar to animals than plants.
Although mushrooms are often referred to as vegetables, they are not a vegetable at all.
Trophic levels
Plants are autotrophic. They produce their own energy via photosynthesis.
On the other hand, mushrooms are heterotrophs, like animals.
Heterotrophs cannot produce their own food, so they must consume other organisms in order to obtain energy.
Mushrooms are heterotrophs that recycle waste material from other trophic levels. They subsist by digesting dead or decomposing remains of other forms of life. They are scavengers (like vultures in the animal kingdom).
Food chains start with primary producers and end with decay and decomposers. With each step taken away from level one in the trophic levels, there is a significant reduction in health-giving properties.
Insect Nurseries
One of the chief uses of mushrooms in nature is as an insect nursery. Mushrooms are home to the Cecid fly larvae, Phorid fly larvae, Sciarid Fly larvae, Springtails, and many, many more. So much so that the FDA allows an exceptionally large number of maggots, mites, and other foreign material in each can of mushrooms. (I realize that many commercial foods contain insects, but the number allowed on mushrooms is exceptionally large because mushrooms host so many insects.)
Health
The consumption of mushrooms is promoted as beneficial for health; however, history tells us that many foods/products have for years been promoted as healthy only to later find that they were not.
Tobacco is a good example. Tobacco was used by native Americans for hundreds of years. In the 1900’s scientists, physicians, and the general public believed that tobacco had beneficial medicinal properties. For decades, physicians recommended the use of tobacco because it would supposedly aid digestion, help with weight loss, and make one live longer.
Current science recognizes that tobacco actually does offer some health benefits. Smoking eases the symptoms of ulcerative colitis and nicotine seems to protect against the development of Parkinson’s disease. But without a doubt, there are enough negative effects of tobacco – such as lung cancer – to warrant abstinence.
Certain varieties of mushrooms (particularly common button mushrooms) contain agaritine, a chemical reported to be carcinogenic. Cooking destroys some of the agaritine, but not all. In addition, mushrooms contain hydrazine and benzine diazonium both of which are cancer causing agents. It is also known that certain non-poisonous mushrooms cause small intestinal damage characterized by flattening of the mucosa, fusing of villi, and other alterations in the cells of the absorptive surface, causing abnormalities of absorption (which can lead to leaky gut syndrome, celiac sprue, mineral or fat malabsorption, allergies, etc.).
These factors may be small, but perhaps with more research we may find other problems with consuming mushrooms. maybe not. But, when it comes to my health, I’d rather play it safe.
Conclusion
Mushrooms may be tasty, but so are many other foods that don’t fall under the category of a whole, plant-based food. I prefer to fill my plate with health-giving fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds included in the diet that God gave to humans at creation.
***
Note:
The biological sciences define at least five kingdoms of living things. These are:
money – Examples: bacteria, blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), and spirochetes
Protist – Examples: protozoans and algae of various types
Fungi – Examples: fungies, molds, mushrooms, yeasts, mildews, and smuts
Plantae – (This is the plant kingdom) Examples: mosses, ferns, woody and non-woody flowering plants
Animalia – (This is the animal kingdom) Examples: sponges, worms, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals
Mushrooms are in the fungi kingdom. Much of their cellular structure and function is more closely related to animals than to plants, and they are placed with animals in the monophyletic group of opisthokonts.
US regulators said Silicon Valley Bank depositors would be fully repaid as they acted to shore up the banking system after the lender’s implosion, unveiling emergency funding measures and closing down a second financial institution.
The Federal Reserve announced a new lending facility on Sunday aimed at providing extra funding to eligible institutions to ensure that “banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors”. The US central bank said it was “prepared to address any liquidity pressures that may arise”.
The Fed facility is part of a broader effort by regulators, including Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, Fed chair Jay Powell and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chair Martin Gruenberg, to avoid spillovers across the financial system and reassure customers that their money is safe following the second- largest bank failure in US history.
The measures come after a frenzied weekend marked by a chaotic search for a potential buyer for SVB and regulators’ closure of New York-based Signature Bank.
The so-called Bank Term Funding Program will offer loans of up to one year to lenders that pledge collateral including US Treasuries and other “qualifying assets”, which will be valued at par.
The program will eliminate an institution’s “need to quickly sell those securities in times of stress” and would be enough to cover all uninsured US deposits, the Fed said. The facility is backstopped by the Treasury, which put up $25bn. The discount window, where banks can access funding at a slight penalty, remained “open and available”, the central bank added.
The regulators said all depositors of SVB would have access to their money on Monday, as would those of Signature, which was closed by the New York Department of Financial Services before being placed under FDIC control and marketed for sale.
Officials on Sunday said no losses stemming from the resolution of either SVB or Signature’s deposits would be borne by the taxpayer. Any shortfall would be funded by a levy on the rest of the banking system. They added that shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders would not be protected.
A number of venture capitalists said Signature was the most exposed lender after SVB because it also had a concentrated customer base, significant exposure to cryptocurrencies and technology companies, and a high proportion of uninsured deposits.
Of Signature’s $89bn in deposits, 90 per cent were not insured by the FDIC at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing. Roughly a fifth of its total deposits were related to digital assets as of December 31.
Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler vowed on Sunday to “investigate and bring enforcement actions” in the event of violations of the federal securities law.
A senior US Treasury official told reporters on Sunday that Yellen had consulted with US president Joe Biden before signing off on the plan to invoke a “systemic risk exception”, allowing all depositors of SVB and Signature to gain access to their money on Monday. In terms of SVB, there had not been enough time for a buyer to emerge and complete a successful auction.
Biden said he was pleased that his economic team “reached a prompt solution that protects American workers and small businesses, and keeps our financial system safe” while “taxpayer dollars are not put at risk”.
The senior Treasury official denied that the move represented a bailout because shareholders and bondholders of the two banks had been “wiped out”. The official said the “economy remains in good shape” and the financial system had a more solid “foundation” than in 2008.
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Anat Admati, a finance professor at Stanford University, said regulators over the past few years had allowed the banking system to become fragile again and had no choice but to bail out SVB.
“When it gets to this point and you are in a hostage situation, there is nothing else you can do,” Admati said. “But there is no other word for this other than to call it a bailout.”
The move underscored US regulators’ concerns about potential spillovers, which motivated the establishment of the Fed facility to help prevent bank runs. The senior Treasury official said they saw “similarities” in the situations at some of SVB and Signature’s peers and wanted to ensure depositors would not suddenly withdraw.
Neither SVB nor Signature — leading lenders for the start-up community and cryptocurrency industry — was likely to be acquired by a rival bank as all the potential buyers had so far walked away, said people with direct knowledge of the negotiations and who have been working with SVB and the government.
PNC, a large US bank, and Canada’s RBC were invited to buy SVB but decided against bidding, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.
America’s five largest banks, including JPMorgan and Bank of America, would also not be buyers, these people said.
For a transaction to make sense for any buyer, the US government would be required to cover part of their losses, said a person working with SVB.
Separately, New York-based investment bank Centerview Partners has been hired to sell SVB’s assets not related to customers’ deposits, including its investment bank and capital business, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Additional reporting by Joshua Franklin and Stephen Gandelin New York, Stefania Palma in Washington and George Hammond in San Francisco
Colorado researchers theorize that fructose metabolism may be the driving force behind Alzheimer’s Disease pathology. Diets high in sugar and high glycemic index carbohydrates would exacerbate the problem. Salt may also play a role. Fructose is a simple sugar (a monosaccharide) typically found in fruit, honey, and some vegetables. Table sugar is sucrose, a combination of fructose and a glucose molecule. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is added to many processed foods as a bulk sweetener. From the article linked above:
An ancient human foraging instinct, fueled by fructose production in the brain, may hold clues to the development and possible treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
The study, published recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionoffers a new way of looking at a fatal disease characterized by abnormal accumulations of proteins in the brain that slowly erode memory and cognition.
“We make the case that Alzheimer’s disease is driven by diet,” said the study’s lead author Richard Johnson, MD, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine specializing in renal disease and hypertension. The study co-authors include Maria Nagel, MD, research professor of neurology at the CU School of Medicine.
Steve Parker, M.D
PS: The Mediterranean diet is linked to a lower risk of dementia.
If you think you don’t like cabbage (like my husband) you have GOT to try this recipe! You’ll swear you don’t eat cabbage!! No cabbage odor or strong taste whatsoever to this dish! It is a delightfully crunchy side dish with grilled Tandoori Chicken or pork chops! I order my nigella seeds (black onion seeds or how about seed) on-line, but you may be lucky to have a spice supplier where you live. I would not recommend omitting them, as you will miss out on a flavor layer that is quite nice. Once you taste this recipe (without alterations) you’ll wish you had found this simple recipe long ago! This dish is Atkins Induction, Primal and Paleo friendly.
I haven’t tried this yet but will someday. Filing it here so I don’t lose it. Click for details.
Last year, more than 10,000 people in Canada – surprisingly that’s over three percent of all deaths there – ended their lives via euthanasia, an increase of a third in the previous year. And it’s likely to keep rising: next year, Canada is set to allow people to die exclusively for mental health reasons.
Only last week, a jaw-dropping story emerged of how, five years into an infuriating battle to obtain a stairlift for her home, Canadian army veteran and Paralympian Christine Gauthier was offered an extraordinary alternative.
A Canadian official told her in 2019 that if her life was so difficult and she was so ‘desperate’, the government would help her to kill herself. ‘I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAiD, medical assistance in dying,’ the paraplegic ex-army corporal testified to Canadian MP
God gave me life. It’s up to God, not me, when it’s over. Over 40 years of practicing medicine, I’ve never had a patient ask me to “put them down,” as we would have cherished a pet that was suffering during impending death.
Natasha Sharpe, of Bridging Finance Inc., in the company’s downtown Toronto offices in 2019.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Natasha Sharpe, the former chief executive of Bridging Finance Inc., was a part-owner of a luxury condo development known as The One when the troubled lender secretly backstopped the project with investor funds, a recent court action alleges.
Until now, only two people have been identified as co-owners of The One: Developer Sam Mizrahi and Jenny Coco, a former road-paving magnate who co-founded Bridging with Ms. Sharpe in 2012.
However, Bridging’s receiver has alleged in a new court filing that Ms. Sharpe had, at least, a 2.5-per-cent stake in The One, a development that is currently under construction at the intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets in Toronto. Ms. Sharpe was allegedly an owner in the project at a time when Bridging was owed millions of dollars from some of Mr. Mizrahi’s companies, and when Bridging investor funds were allegedly used to backstop a $213-million loan advanced to The One.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., which was appointed as receiver over Bridging in 2021 amid allegations of fraud and mismanagement, says it has “significant concerns regarding the potential conflicts of interest between Jenny Coco and Natasha Sharpe” in their roles as both officers of Bridging and as owners of the condo development.
The allegations were made in a legal application by PwC, which is seeking a court-appointed officer to oversee three development companies linked to Mr. Mizrahi. Those three companies, which were behind a Mizrahi-built condominium at 181 Davenport Rd., owe Bridging a total of about $55-million and are in default, PwC alleges.
neither Ms. Sharpe nor Ms. Coco respondents to requests for comments sent to their lawyers. Mr. Mizrahi is opposing PwC’s application, arguing, among other things, that one of the three companies owes nothing to Bridging. Mr. Mizrahi did not respondto questions about Ms. Sharpe’s alleged ownership in The One.
Bridging Finance was one of Canada’s largest private lenders when it was placed under PwC’s control in 2021 by an Ontario judge. Using funds predominantly provided by retail investors, Bridging offered loans to higher-risk companies that had trouble qualifying for financing from traditional banks. At its peak, Bridging managed $2.09-billion on behalf of 26,000 investors.
But in April, 2021, Ontario’s securities regulator rocked Bay Street with allegations that several of the company’s loans had problematic ties to the husband and wife team that led Bridging: David Sharpe, Bridging’s then-CEO, and Ms. Sharpe, who had previously been CEO and by that point was Bridging’s chief investment officer. Both were fired shortly after, and the couple has since been accused of fraud by theOntario Securities Commission. Bridging’s investors are estimated to lose $1.3-billion.
However, the OSC’s allegations do not pertain to The One, a long-delayed condominium development that has beenmarketed by Mr. Mizrahi as the tallest condo tower in Canadian history. PwC’s probesinto the project widens the scope of potential legal jeopardy for the controlling minds behind bridging. Ms. Coco and Ms. Sharpe co-owned the private lender, and they both sat on Bridging’s credit committee, which approved its loans.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In new legal filings, PwC says it has recovered documents that suggest Ms. Sharpe owns 5 per cent of a holding company that owns 50 per cent of The One, amounting to a 2.5 per cent interest in the condo development. The holding company is primarily owned by Ms. Coco.
Ms. Sharpe originally invested $1.5-million in the holding company between 2014 and 2015, PwC alleges, a period of time when several companies involved in a Mizrahi development at 181 Davenport in Toronto had outstanding loans with Bridging.
PwC also alleges it has located a 2017 e-mail that suggests Ms. Sharpe was offered an additional ownership stake in The One in connection with a loan guarantee from Bridging.
Around this time, The One was in need of financing and negotiated a $213-million loan from China-East Resources Import & Export Co. (CERIECO), a Chinese-state lender. To secure the funds, Ms. Coco put up her family company, Coco Paving, as collateral.
However, Coco Paving did not fully meet the conditions required by the lender so Ms. Coco allegedly arranged for Bridging’s flagship investor fund, the Bridging Income Fund, to act as one of several guarantors.
At the time, the Bridging Income Fund managed about $650-million on behalf of its investors. Ms. Sharpe allegedly signed the document that named the fund as a guarantor, but in some versions of the guarantee the name “Bridging Finance” was redacted from the documents, CERIECO has alleged in a separate legal action. PwC refers to this redacted agreement as an “alleged secret guarantee.”
In the 2017 e-mail discovered by PwC, Mr. Mizrahi summarized a discussion he had with Ms. Coco about their intended offer to Ms. Sharpe: “2.5% coming from me and 2.5% coming from you.”
He also wrote: “The 5% share being given to Natasha is for Bridging/Sprott putting up its balance sheet and guarantees so that we can get rid of China in the next 18 month period we have with them.”
Ms. Coco replied: “Yes, we agree as outlined!” and forwarded the email exchange to Ms. Sharpe.
PwC acknowledged that it doesn’t know whether this additional stake was given, explaining it “continues to investigate whether this additional ownership share was ever provided to Natasha Sharpe.”
At the time, the flagship fund was known as the Sprott Bridging Income Fund, because it was co-managed by Sprott Asset Management. Around this time the fund was purchased by Ninepoint Partners, which is run by former Sprott executives. Asked about Ms. Sharpe’s alleged ownership in The One, Ninepoint said in an e-mailed statement to The Globe: “At no point did Bridging disclose any such conflict, nor did Ninepoint have any knowledge of a conflict.”
The Globe has been unable to locate any record of Ms. Sharpe disclosing this alleged interest in The One to Bridging investors, and there is no mention of any such disclosure in PwC’s recent legal filing.
One of the few times Ms. Sharpe was publicly associated with the development was when she appeared at the launch of The One’s sales center in November, 2017. Shortly after the event a photograph of Ms. Sharpe, Ms. Coco and Mr. Mizrahi appeared on the website of Dolce Magazine, which describes itself as a luxury lifestyle publication. The photo, a copy of which was obtained by The Globe, was deleted from Dolce’s website shortly after Bridging was placed in receivership.
It is unclear if Ms. Sharpe is still an investor in The One. However, PwC says it has also recovered a Dec. 30, 2020, e-mail where Ms. Coco, while in a dispute with Ms. Sharpe about outstanding Mizrahi loans, stated: “Allow me to remind you, both Sharpe and Coco … remain investors in The One.”
The $213-million loan provided by CERIECO in 2017 is now in default and the Chinese lender is suing because it alleges Bridging Finance and Ms. Coco were released from their guarantees without its knowledge. CERIECO’s allegations have not been proven in court.
Mr. Mizrahi is attempting to have CERIECO’s lawsuit dismissed, arguing that CERIECO had entered into an agreement with The One’s senior lender, KEB Hana Bank, stipulating it would not take any enforcement actions that could jeopardize the project before its completion. That matter was recently argued before Ontario Superior Court Justice Jessica Kimmel in September, but she has yet to make a ruling.
This luscious soup evokes wonderful memories of sitting at my grandma’s table after school on a cold, wintery day, and slurping up spoonful after spoonful of this warm and delicious vegetable soup.
Sadly, I never thought to ask my grandma for the recipe for her soup, but with a little experimenting, I think this recipe comes very close.
This one-pot, simple cream of vegetable soup is one of my favorite quick and easy meals. It’s pure comfort food yet loaded with healthy, nourishing and slimming ingredients. It’s also dairy free. And gluten-free.
Farmhouse Vegetable Soup FAQ
What type of milk do you recommend for this cream of vegetable soup?
Soy milk works best in this soup as it lends just the right flavor. Cashew milk (especially homemade cashew milk) may be the next best.
Almond milk is a little too sweet for this simple, savory soup. Rice milk is too thin. Coconut milk definitely has the WRONG flavor! I’ve not tried hemp or oat milk, but my guess is they won’t be as good as soy or cashew in this particular soup.
Be sure to use plain, unsweetened milk! You don’t want sweet vanilla veggies!
Can I use other vegetables in this vegetable soup?
I used celery, carrots, onions, red potatoes, and green beans because those were the ones that tasted best to me in this soup – and those were the veggies my grandma used. 🙂 You could probably vary the veggie content without a problem.
What can I serve with the soup?
This soup is so nutritious and satisfying that it’s a meal in itself. We also love this cream of vegetable soup with crusty bread, croutons, or whole-grain crackers. And it’s great with a side salad.
Can I freeze vegetable soup?
I would NOT recommend freezing this soup. Neither the potatoes nor the milk freeze well at all, and the some other ingredients don’t turn out the greatest either.
I hope you enjoy!
Farmhouse Cream of Vegetable Soup
This dairy-free cream of vegetable soup is delicious comfort food yet loaded with healthy, nourishing and slimming ingredients.
Prep Time 25min
Cook Time 17min
Total Time 39min
All recipes on jenniferskitchen.com are the property of jennifer’s kitchen and cannot be republished without written permission.
2ribscelery, diced small
2mediumcarrots, diced small
1mediumyellow onion, diced small
1tablespoonsolive oil – (Or use this method to sauté without oil.)
2clovesgarlic
1/2cupwater
5medium (about 2 pounds)red potatoes – or another kind of waxy potato – scrubbed, but not peeled
1cupcut frozen green beans – (or fresh green beans may be used)
1 1/2cupsorganic canned corn kernels – with liquid
3teaspoons dried parsley – (1 tablespoons)
2 1/2teaspoonsgranulated onions
1 1/4teaspoonsdried chopped or minced onion
3/4teaspoonscelery salt
3/4teaspoonsdried dill
1/2teaspoonsgranulated garlic
1/4teaspoonsdried sage
1/4teaspoonsdried basil
1/8teaspoonsdried oregano
1 1/4teaspoonssalt
2 – 3cupsplain, unsweetened non-dairy milk – See note
In a large soup pot, sauté chopped carrots, onions, and celery in oil over medium-low heat for about 5 to 7 minutes or until onions are just turning translucent. (Or use this method to sauté without oil.)
Add garlic sauté for one more minute.
Meanwhile, scrub potatoes. Dice into 3/4-inch pieces.
Turn heat to high. Add 1/2 cup water, potatoes, green beans, corn, and seasonings. Cover and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cook at a very low and gentle boil, stirring often, for 12 to 14 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Stir in milk. Cook over low heat until hot, but do not boil. Add salt to taste.Serve hot.
I recommend soy, almond, or cashew milk in this recipe. The exact amount of milk you use depends on how you like your soup. This soup does not reheat well. If you need to make it ahead of time, reheat it very gently and slowly.
>> One quick request: if you like this recipe, please leave a rating and a comment. Ratings help more people find these healthy recipes!
With the growing trend for online shopping, next-day delivery and the retail/hospitality experience showing no signs of slowing down, businesses frequently need to recruit extra staff to meet increased demand (particularly in the run up to Christmas). A major national newspaper has reported that approximately 250,000 temporary positions will be on offer over the festive period and not just in restaurants, bars and shops, but also in warehouses and delivery.
Yodel, the courier giant recently announced they need an extra 1,500 temporary staff nationwide, including HGV class 1 drivers, warehouse operations, van drivers and couriers to fulfill client demands. With an increased number of vans, HGVs and delivery vehicles on the road, inevitably comes a greater risk of accidents. Look back 2 years to December 2017 and there were 462 fatal or serious accidents involving goods vehicles.
What is Gray Fleet?
During these busy periods online retail companies will often use ‘gray fleet’ drivers to deliver to customers. Gray fleet is simply the term used to describe any vehicle that does not belong to the company, but is used for business travel.
According to one BBC investigation, on a typical day a delivery driver for a leading company will make 150-200 deliveries. Although most companies will advise drivers to take regular comfort breaks, the reality is that this frenetic pace of work allows very little time for breaks, often resulting in extreme tiredness.
Sadly, tiredness is a major contributing factor to road accidents but isn’t the only risk of having a greater number of ‘gray fleet’ vehicles on the road:
Gray Fleet: The risks
Because gray fleet vehicles do not belong to the company, fleet managers face a complicated set of issues when it comes to managing the safety of their fleet. For one thing, employees using their own car may be outside of the established insurance and servicing policies, meaning their vehicles are not covered for company travel. Another issue is trying to keep track of the status of gray fleet vehicles to ensure they meet legal road requirements, including:
Driving license validity
Insurance details including business use
MOT certification
Road Tax validity
In addition to this, businesses also need to consider the suitability of the vehicle for work purposes. This could include the age and condition, or whether the vehicle is equipped with ABS, ESP, air conditioning and whether or not it is suitable for the journey requirements of the company.
To help avoid accidents on the road, RoSPA recommends that all delivery drivers are trained or trained in handling risks on the road. RoSPA offers a bespoke Gray Fleet management training course which allows companies to manage their gray fleet.
The benefit of undertaking such training is a quick and simple self-certification process, which is accessible to all drivers and sends alerts automatically to individuals and managers for MOT’s, insurance, road tax etc.
For more information on our Gray Fleet Management course visit our website, email or call us on +44 (0)121 248 2233.
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