Samsara has launched Smart Compliance for fleet operators in the EU and UK, targeting tachograph compliance.

The system brings together tachograph downloads, infringement management and driver coaching in a single platform for compliance managers and safety teams. It includes in-cab alerts, a central dashboard, country-specific rulesets, digital coaching workflows and compliance performance dashboards.

The launch comes as fleet operators face closer scrutiny over tachograph rules. Tachograph offences accounted for 58% of all DVSA HGV prosecutions in 2024, according to Samsara, while compliance requirements are also due to extend to cross-border light commercial vehicles over 2.5 tonnes from July 2026.

Operators working across borders face added complexity because tachograph rules vary by jurisdiction. The system uses VDO-based rulesets covering more than 17 European countries, with updates to reflect regulatory changes.

Single system

Many fleet businesses still use separate tools for telematics, tachograph downloads and compliance administration. That can leave compliance teams managing data in multiple places and reviewing infringements only after they have occurred.

Smart Compliance is designed to shift that process towards earlier intervention. In-cab warnings alert drivers in real time so they can correct issues before they become infringements, while office teams can review incidents through a central dashboard and send digital debriefs to drivers for acknowledgement.

For fleet operators, the financial risks can be significant. Infringements can carry penalties of up to £5,000 each, according to Samsara, while repeated compliance failures can also threaten an operator’s licence.

One early user is Mulgrew Haulage, which has been trialling the product as part of its compliance process.

Matt Crossland, UK Area Manager at Mulgrew Haulage, said: “Previously, we would wait for the infringement report and deal with everything in bulk, which could take most of the day. Now everything is in one place-the infringement, manager response, and driver acknowledgement-and it takes about two minutes per infringement with Smart Compliance. Instead of looking back at last month’s infringements, we review yesterday’s, deal with them immediately, and send them straight to the driver digitally to fully understand what happened. This reduces what previously took a day to a matter of minutes.”

The product has been developed for fleets operating in the UK and across Europe, where cross-border transport often requires compliance teams to track different national rules alongside EU-wide requirements. Samsara said between 60% and 80% of EU fleets operate across borders, making tachograph administration a routine operational task.

Compliance pressure

The wider compliance market has become more important as regulators place greater emphasis on driver hours, rest periods and record-keeping. Tachographs are central to that framework because they record driving time, speed and rest activity, giving enforcement agencies a basis for identifying breaches.

Smart Compliance combines prevention, management and coaching in one system rather than relying on separate tools. Samsara is positioning that approach as an alternative to older compliance workflows built around retrospective reporting and manual follow-up.

Alongside the alerting system and dashboard, the software includes KPI views that allow managers to track infringement patterns over time. The dashboards are intended to help operators identify recurring issues at driver, depot or fleet level and measure whether coaching is reducing repeat offences.

Digital coaching workflows are designed to replace paper-based or ad hoc debriefing processes. They allow managers to log a response to an infringement and send it directly to a driver for review and acknowledgement.

Praveen Murugesan, Vice President of Engineering EMEA at Samsara, said the technology is intended to reduce manual work for compliance teams.

He said: “Our customers’ operations in Europe are some of the most complex in the world, and there is a huge opportunity to use AI to spot risks and avoid infringements. Smart Compliance takes the guesswork out of compliance by automating the toil that office teams grapple with every day. We’re super excited to provide the technology that keeps these essential supply chains moving safely.”

Smart Compliance is available for fleets in the EU and the UK.

Around 70 dealers attended the weekend PBFA Oxford Book Fair at Oxford Brookes University held on April 18 and April 19.

These dealers were reportedly offering tens of thousands of rare, collectable and second-hand books, maps and manuscripts, including part of Ian Fleming’s James Bond series and by Jane Austen.

READ MORE: Do not approach order issued as manhunt launched for Oxford man with knife

Blackwell’s and Hatchards were among the sellers present at the fair with novels by Aldous Huxley and Virginia Woolf also up for sale.

Organised by Grace Barham and Tom Lintern-Mole of the Premier Book Fair Association, items were on offer from as low as £2 to over £1,000 with food and drink available from an on-site cafe.

The PBFA has further announced that there will be a one-day fair at Oxford Brookes again, on Saturday October 17.

FreedomPay has published research, conducted with Retail Economics, estimating that payment system failures put up to £1.7 billion in annual UK retail and hospitality sales at risk.

Based on surveys of 2,000 UK consumers and 200 retail and hospitality managers, the findings point to repeated disruption across the sector. Businesses reported an average of 5.2 major payment outages a year, with 72% occurring during peak trading periods.

Retail accounted for the largest share of the revenue exposure at £1.2 billion, while hospitality and leisure represented a further £494 million. The average outage lasted 79 minutes, far longer than most customers are willing to wait at the till.

Consumer patience emerged as a central issue. Most consumers can tolerate payment delays of up to seven minutes before frustration begins, while 13 minutes is the maximum wait before customers start abandoning purchases. Nearly one in five shoppers, 19%, said they had walked away from an intended purchase during a payment failure.

The figures suggest losses build quickly once disruption begins. Restoring systems within the first five minutes can prevent more than 90% of potential losses, while between the eighth and thirteenth minute of an outage, industry losses can exceed £50 million per minute as abandoned transactions rise.

Staff pressure

The report also highlighted the effect on frontline workers. More than half of retail and hospitality managers, 52%, said they had faced verbal abuse or confrontational behaviour from customers during payment failures.

That pressure is compounded by limited backup options. Only 40% of companies surveyed offer offline card processing, and fewer than half have alternative network solutions in place. This leaves staff with few ways to complete transactions or defuse tense situations when systems go down.

Cash, once a common fallback, appears to be losing ground as a practical safeguard. Fewer consumers now carry cash than a year ago, making digital disruption harder to manage when card systems fail. Some 72% cited the risk of being unable to pay as their main concern during an outage.

A generational divide was also visible in payment habits. Only 18% of under-45s said they always carry cash when visiting shops and venues, compared with 33% of over-45s. This suggests younger consumers are less prepared when digital payments stop working and more likely to react negatively.

The research also pointed to reputational risks for operators, particularly because younger consumers are more likely to share poor experiences online. A local payment outage can therefore become more than an immediate lost sale and develop into a broader customer service problem.

Resilience gaps

The findings raise broader questions about the resilience of UK payment infrastructure as retailers and hospitality operators become more dependent on digital transactions. Many businesses recognise the threat of disruption but underestimate how quickly revenue is put at risk once systems fail.

Chris Kronenthal, President of FreedomPay, said the issue extends beyond missed transactions. “The UK’s relationship with payment resilience is unique in that businesses are beginning to truly understand. Our research confirms that retailers and hospitality operators across the country are worried about more than just lost sales, it’s the lost trust that remains their biggest focus. As it should be in a market that is increasingly impacted by reputation. Payment failures are key confirmations of credibility, over and above being an operational mistake. Investing in resilience is the best defence to keep that customer loyalty.”

Retail Economics linked the findings to a wider shift away from cash and towards always-on digital payments. That trend, combined with limited fallback arrangements in stores and venues, increases the commercial impact of even short-lived outages.

Richard Lim, Chief Executive Officer of Retail Economics, said: “When payment systems fail, the impact is immediate and unforgiving. The data shows that customer tolerance is measured in minutes, not hours, with abandonment accelerating quickly once delays extend beyond that point. But the impact goes beyond the lost transaction, placing pressure on frontline staff and eroding customer trust. As digital dependency increases and fallback options become more limited, resilience is becoming a core capability, not just an operational safeguard.”