“This reduces car use and we can see steep reductions in mileage,” says Graham.

“That in turn changes the car life expectancy – we could extend its life by another two years by changing the way the sales team do their business.”

The replacement policy demonstrates Commercial Group’s commitment to sustainability.

It might only have a small fleet but it punches way above its weight when it comes to environmental initiatives.

The biggest impact came from a utilisation programme which started in 2006.

That year, Commercial Group’s business journeys totalled 1.3 million miles, resulting in 910 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Commercial introduced a Dynamic Routing System that uses a wide range of inputs, including data from Cybit telematics, local knowledge, updates on school holidays, information on planned road works and driver feedback to enable the company to constantly reassess and optimise its routes.

The impact has been dramatic.

In collaboration with customers, two vans were taken off the road in the first year, followed by another two last year and one this year. Three van routes have been removed.

“We are buying less than one van a year now because we have taken vans off previous routes and kept them in storage to redeploy when our older vans come up for replacement,” says Paddock.

The next stage in the programme is dubbed ‘strategic van placements’. Commercial Group has started working in collaboration with other companies to share vans to deliver its goods.

This piggybacking concept is a ‘man in a van’ partnership with several local logistics firms and equipment manufacturers.

“It’s hard to set up. There are a lot of political factors and differences in culture but it is possible and there are major benefits,” says Graham.

Just six years after starting its environmental programme, Commercial Group’s fleet carbon footprint has reduced by more than 70%, from 910 tonnes to 263 tonnes, audited by the Energy Saving Trust through its Motorvate programme.

Its annual mileage has fallen from 1.3 million to less than one million miles, a saving of almost 370,000.

And all this has happened while Commercial Group has enjoyed dramatic growth, with revenues up 50% since 2006.

In addition to the environmental benefits, the new initiatives have also resulted in considerable financial savings – equivalent to £3m of new business across all parts of the programme.