How Drainline Southern Ltd cut total claims costs by 73% with Samsara

Restoring control over runaway claims costs 

Drainline Southern Ltd provides specialist drainage, tanker, and highway services to tier one contractors, local councils, and bodies like Transport for London (TfL), preventing floods and keeping Britain’s highways draining freely. This means running heavy goods vehicles in the public network every day, from major motorways networks to residential cul-de-sacs. 

Back at the depots, the team had systems in place for managing the risks before drivers hit the road, through daily safety briefings, toolbox talks and method statements. But this ended the second a vehicle left the depot, becoming invisible for management until the driver returned home. 

For Paul Monck, the company’s Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) Director, this blind spot was a constant source of worry, and cost. When 18-tonne gully cleaners share tight streets with pedestrians and public vehicles, some friction is inevitable. But a spate of low-impact events, typically reversing incidents and crashes with stationary objects, had put the company on notice with its insurer. Slow reporting habits, with paperwork lingering on desks for days after incidents, inflated the cost of each claim still further. By 2023, Drainline had racked up £141,000 in total incurred costs in a single year, with individual losses topping £30,000. With their claims ratio out of control, their underwriter made it clear that something had to change.