GAS supply company Transco has added 18 natural gas vehicles worth £450,000 to its natural gas fleet as it pushes to become the greenest fleet in Britain with 600 clean fuelled vehicles in the next five years. The 3.5 tonne, 2.3-litre Mercedes-Benz Sprinters converted to run solely on compressed natural gas by specialist firm Tickfords, enlarge the total green fleet to 40. Twenty-two similar vehicles have operated from Kent since last year.

At the official launch of the fleet, in Maidstone, Kent, junior transport minister Glenda Jackson, said: 'Cleaner fuels such as compressed natural gas can play an important role in our quest for cleaner air and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's decision to cut fuel duty of gaseous road fuels by 29% should provide a very strong incentive for vehicle operators to follow in Transco's footsteps.'

Three quarters of the cost of converting the vans has been covered by a grant from the Energy Saving Trust's Powershift initiative, which provides money to fleets to promote the use of alternative fuels. The firm estimates that pre-Budget savings over a diesel powered van added up to £275 a year per vehicle, but would be more than £300 a vehicle following the Government's 29% cut in duty on gaseous fuels. Vehicles run on a five-year/80,000-100,000 mile replacement cycle, allowing Transco to thoroughly test the reliability of alternatively-fuelled vehicles.