He suggested inflation, exchange rates and the volatility of the price of crude will all have a major affect and few fleet budgets will readily accommodate this kind of pressure.
“But there are steps all fleets should embrace to offset these cost increases,” explains Underdown. “Set targets for each driver derived from official combined MPG and monitor individual performance, train drivers in smarter driving techniques - EST Smarter Driving Courses have shown that 15% improvement is achievable, challenge staff to find strategies to travel less and
install telematics to more closely monitor van utilisation.”
James Sutherland, chief executive officer of Peak Performance, adds: “Equipped with the correct techniques, knowledge and attitude towards responsible driving, it’s the person behind the wheel who holds the key to lowering fuel cost.
“Mature drivers are unlikely to have ever been given guidance on saving fuel – they need the information. Training is the way forward, whether it’s through practical in-vehicle coaching, workshops or online modules.”
Government looks set to intervene
The possibility of a “fair fuel stabiliser” to limit fuel duty rises has been mooted by the Prime Minister David Cameron.
However, it now appears the Chancellor George Osborne is considering cancelling the fuel duty increase due to effect in April.
The idea of a fuel stabiliser was originally proposed by the Conservatives in 2008 before being dropped after Osborne instructed the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to look into it.
In theory a fuel stabiliser would allow any increase in fuel to be mitigated by decreasing the tax burden, while if the price was to fall, the tax would go up.
However, the OBR claimed that the stabiliser would be too impractical and costly to implement.
Recognising that the Government is coming under mounting pressure to intervene, Osborne has now suggested that axing the April increase is a possibility.
The Fair Fuel UK campaign, launched last month, is calling on the Government to do just that.
Having signed up to the campaign, BVRLA chief executive John Lewis said: “The truth is that all businesses that rely on road transport, to move people or goods, are being rapidly strangled by the soaring cost of fuel at a time when the country needs them to help deliver economic growth.
"Without this, the new public sector jobs required to make up the losses from public sector cuts will not arrive.”
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Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.
FleetEnergyWatcher - 11/02/2011 12:31
Fuel duty is 2.5% lower in real terms than it was 10 years ago. At the same time, total UK vehicle mileage is falling, as is total road fuel consumption and therefore CO2 emissions. So there are no environmental or traffic congestion grounds for raising fuel duty in April. Mr Osborne seems to have recognised that he is on shaky ground. However, freezing duty will have little impact on rising fuel prices, which are driven by factors outside the Government's control. Not since the 1970s has there been a time when fleets needed a clearer picture of their fuel and mileage costs than today. Yet many businesses still don't capture this data - instead it gets lost in different cost centres' expenses processes (always assuming that one could extract useful data for controlling mileage and fuel costs from the process in the first place). Such lack of clarity - you could call it 'grey fuel' - is preventing many companies from embarking on the kind of cost control measures described in the article.