A FORWARD thinking fleet has slashed its incident rate and fuel consumption through two innovative schemes to make drivers think about how they drive and look after vehicles. Electrical rental and retail firm Boxclever Technology, which has a total fleet of 2,000 cars and vans, has started face-to-face discussions with drivers and launched a driver of the year award.

Nigel Harris, key account manager for Masterhire, which manages the fleet for Boxclever, said employees who had been involved in incidents were asked in for an 'informal chat' to see if they could have reacted better. He claimed it had reduced incidents by 20%.

The nationwide firm's first driver of the year award, which has been running for the last six months, was won by Mike Rogers, a delivery repair man, who has worked for the company for 23 years and never had an accident claim.

Harris claimed that rewarding good driving, rather than penalising bad driving, had been well received by drivers who were all keen not to be bottom of their various depots' league tables. All 897 delivery drivers took part. They were scored and evaluated by their managers in categories that included the number of insurance claims, improvements in fuel efficiency, licence points, service histories and how the driver looked after his or her vehicle.

Harris said: 'We believe it has improved driving standards across the fleet and there has been an increase in fuel efficiency. It has definitely raised awareness among drivers.'

Rogers received his prize of a five-star weekend break for two, Argos vouchers and Vauxhall merchandise from Mike Greenlagh, environmental adviser for sponsor Envirolink UK, part of the Bedford and Luton Business Link.