DRIVERS are the newest target in a campaign instigated by Michelin to reduce running costs, increase safety and ultimately save fleets thousands of pounds a year and potentially reduce their leasing rates. The initiative has been formulated by Michelin through its fleet panel, comprised of representatives from Hertz Lease, Dial Contracts, Fleet Support Group, Motability, HSBC Vehicle Maintenance, Vauxhall Masterhire Leasing, BCH Vehicle Management and PHH Vehicle Management, which between them control more than one million fleet vehicles.

Under the scheme, Michelin carries out spot checks on vehicles in a company car park, leaving an assessment of tyre wear and pressure on the windscreen. Then after a few weeks Michelin returns and checks if improvements have been made. Spot checks were carried out on Barclays Bank fleet, which is supplied by Dial Contracts. Peter Philpott, Michelin's European car fleets manager, said: 'We checked 65 cars and five weeks later looked at the same cars again and in the majority corrections had been made. Dial buys 57,000 tyres a year and by factoring out our findings across its fleet could save it £600,000 a year through maximising tyre life.