Disabled drivers say they are “relieved and overjoyed” to be deleting tracking devices installed in their cars after Motability paused its controversial monitoring scheme.
Motorists told The i Paper of the huge stress caused by the “drive smart” system, saying it was intrusive and did not work properly.
Motability Operations – the company running the scheme for personal independence payment (PIP) claimants – had made trackers mandatory for drivers under 30.
The black box device, linked to an app on users’ mobile phones, allowed Motability and its insurance company, Direct Line, to monitor young drivers’ habits like speed and driving smoothness, using a traffic light scoring system for their behaviour. If drivers clocked up four “red” weekly scores, they could have their cars taken away.
After a deluge of complaints, Motability announced last week that it would pause the scheme and work with customers to understand “how it can be improved”.
Those already enrolled will be automatically removed and have been told they can delete the app. Those who want to continue using the system can notify Motability by 21 May.
Stress from the app ‘made me dread driving’
Levi Valerii, a 29-year-old Motability driver from South Wales, began using the tracking device in December. They said they’d received a series of red flags from the app with every car journey.
“It said there was a problem with my smoothness and breaking, even though I was driving in a completely normal, standard way,” said Valerii, who has fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety. “It just isn’t accurate.”
Levi Valerii has deleted Motability’s tracking app (Photo: Levi Valerii)“Motability was supposed to mean freedom. This has caused me stress and nightmares and made me dread driving. I’ve been going out in the car only once or twice a week,” Valerii added.
They said it was a “great feeling” to be able to delete the app. But they added: “While I’m pleased that the scheme is rethinking drive smart, it’s troubling that they still plan to implement it at a later date.”
‘It’s been a disgraceful mess’
Helen Cunningham, a 60-year-old from Northamptonshire, and her 18-year-old son Oliver, who has a physical disability, were “relieved and overjoyed” to delete the app this week.
They were both on the insurance when the tracker started in November, and struggled with a series of technical problems.
“It was saying [Oliver] was distracted even when he hadn’t left the driveway. It was saying he wasn’t driving smoothly enough. I was with him for these journeys, and that wasn’t the case,” said Cunningham.
“It hasn’t worked properly. It’s been intrusive. It’s been a disgraceful mess. A nightmare.”
Helen Cunningham and her son Oliver were ‘overjoyed’ to delete Motability’s tracking appKate Blackledge, a 47-year-old from Cornwall, is the appointee for her 17-year-old son’s Motability car, and is named on the insurance.
Blackledge said both she and her son, who has a neurodevelopmental disorder and anxiety, had received a series of confusing red flags with the app.
“I have serious doubts about its accuracy. At one point it showed that I had gone off the road, driven across somewhere that wasn’t a road, which obviously wasn’t what I did,” she said.
“It’s a huge relief to delete it,” Blackledge added. “I hope they don’t try to bring it back in a mandatory way.”
Motability praised for dropping mandatory ‘Orwellian’ scheme
Keron Day, a disability campaigner and actor who appeared in Netflix’s Sex Education, is delighted by Motability’s U-turn.
The 25-year-old thought it was unfair to target young disabled drivers with mandatory trackers, since non-disabled drivers get to choose whether or not to have one for insurance purposes.
Keron Day said the tracking scheme was unfair to young disabled driversDay, who has cerebral palsy, praised Motability for “recognising the seriousness of the issues for disabled people’s lives” and “acting swiftly to address them”.
Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat MP for West Cornwall, recently held a meeting with Day and Motability chiefs to share disabled users’ anger about the “Orwellian” monitoring system.
The MP welcomed the rethink – but said he was surprised that Motability rolled out this scheme “before they’d considered the multiple risks and failures”.
“The impact has been extremely stressful for many who’ve tried to handle the system, and represents disturbingly Orwellian surveillance,” added George.
In a statement shared in response to a request for comment, Motability CEO Andrew Miller said the tracking system had been introduced to try to improve driving and help the company manage its insurance costs.
“But we have listened carefully to customer feedback and recognise that the experience was not where it needed to be,” he said. “That is why we have decided to pause drive smart while we work with customers to understand how it can be improved.”
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