DRAIN maintenance company Dyno-Rod claims to have achieved annual savings of almost £13,000 by installing a vehicle tracking system across its fleet.

The company says savings have been achieved in wages, fuel and insurance costs since using the Vehicle Management Information (VMI) system from Minorplanet Systems.

John Fitzjohn, managing director of JFJ Enterprises, an independent licensed operator of the Dyno-Rod service in North Wales, said: 'We looked at how our business operated and knew that we could make our fleet more efficient by using a vehicle tracking system. When we saw Minorplanet's VMI system we knew that it would help us achieve our goals.

'We checked the system against the drivers' timesheets and found we could immediately start saving. More than £500 per month was being over-claimed before – something we could never prove without it.'

The system provides data by taking GPS readings every minute and relaying the information back to a command centre PC, located in Dyno-Rod's office.

Other benefits have included cheaper insurance costs, lower phone bills due to a deal Minorplanet has negotiated with a mobile phone operator, increased productivity and better customer service, Minorplanet says, because drain maintenance companies have to react quickly to customer calls.