MORE than 7,000 company car drivers had to call out the RAC last year after filling up their car with the wrong type of fuel.

The findings are produced in a new RAC survey that found an increasing number of company car drivers are unable to tell their unleaded from their diesel.

In 1995 a total of 4,716 company car drivers called RAC for assistance because their vehicle had what the company calls a 'contaminated fuel problem'. By 2001, the number had increased to 7,369 call outs.

'There is a clear message for fleet managers here,' said RAC Corporate Services managing director Simon Cashmore. 'Employees are being handed the keys to vehicles without being given information on the company's fleet fuel policy or information on the specific vehicle's fuelling requirements.

'The increasing frequency of fuel contamination call outs really underlines the need for fleet managers to provide up-to- date information on company vehicles to both new and existing employees,' added Cashmore.

RAC Fleet Services says it can show fleet managers the most effective way to label vehicles with the correct fuel requirements – and 'make sure that all their drivers know.'

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