“Each driver on induction has to go through a written competence test, which is in a Q&A format.

They then have their eyesight checked in branch, while a physical copy of their licence is taken and a mandate signed before being emailed to fleet where the licence is checked within 36 to 48 hours.”

Branches will also take a driver out on the road for the day to assess driving style and familiarise them with the route.

Meanwhile, every vehicle is fitted with a tracking device helping ensure good vehicle utilisation and route optimisation.

Skuse adds: “Working in a business where everyone knows everything about vehicles, I’ve a constant flow of people into my office asking ‘why don’t you do this?’.

“The challenge is convincing them it’s a bad idea and will cost the company money rather than bring any savings.”

Keeping fuel costs down

Euro Car Parts is budgeting to buy 10 million litres of fuel this year, making it one of the company’s largest expenditures.

It is therefore essential Michael Skuse does all he can to keep fuel costs in check and working with fuel card supplier Keyfuels is one way he is achieving this.

“It’s the leading company in the market,” he says, highlighting how it has the largest wholesale priced network in the UK and more than 1,600 multi-branded sites.

Each Euro Car Parts branch has a fuel card for each vehicle and a branch card that can be used for hire vehicles.

“All the branch managers also have links on their desktops highlighting where their local Keyfuel sites are,” says Skuse.

“If a driver uses another site, the branch responsible is questioned about the expenditure.”

Individual branches also monitor mileage, reporting miles driven on a weekly basis via the company’s intranet system to the central fleet team.

This then feeds into the fleet management system to give an average fuel economy.

Skuse buys his fuel in bulk, monitoring three or four different price streams on a daily basis. “If the market is going down, we will buy, if the market is going up, we will hang on,” he says.

A typical transaction could see the company buying 150,000 litres in one go saving it thousands of pounds against the pump price it would otherwise have to pay.