A SMALL commercial heating and plumbing firm has shaved £21,000 from its insurance premium after fitting a new telematics system to its fleet of 18 vehicles.

Combserve Combustion Services installed the Thales Telematics Orchid system as a security initiative after its vehicles fell victim to a spate of thefts, driving up the company's insurance premium.

In addition to the £21,000 policy saving, the company has also reaped customer service benefits by improving the accuracy of its time-of-arrival forecasting, and scheduling its journeys to avoid congestion by using live traffic updates.