THIRTY-eight UK fleets are to receive £20 million in Government subsidies to trial alternatively fuelled vehicles. The successful fleets were named this week and will receive the cash under the Government-funded Energy Saving Trust's Powershift programme which encourages fleets to run vehicles fuelled by compressed natural gas, liquid petroleum gas or electricity.

Jonathan Murray, Powershift's programme manager, said: 'The potential £20 million worth of orders from Powershift's funding partnerships represents the biggest single step yet on the road towards a sustainable market for alternatively fuelled vehicles. This is good news for businesses, local authorities, manufacturers, people living in towns and cities, sufferers of asthma and heart disease and, of course, the environment.'

Powershift was launched in April with the promise of paying half the cost of converting a petrol or diesel powered vehicle to run on an alternative fuel. The programme's three year budget stretches to £60 million, and the first beneficiaries of Powershift's initial £20 million contribution include a number of local authorities, as well as Sainsbury's, DHL International, Avon and Somerset police and West Midlands police force.