Ledbury Welding & Engineering (LWE) has supplied an Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental branch with a fuel recycling unit.

The equipment was designed to provide a safe method for recovering petrol and diesel from used hire vehicles, which were being taken out of service.

Marlene Stevenson, branch manager, said: “By recycling our fuel, we can reduce our operating costs and this of course helps us to pass on the savings to our customers by offering competitive rates and marketing incentives. These are important benefits and we shall be looking at the possibility of installing similar facilities at other hire branches within the Group.”

Traditionally car and van hire operations run on full tanks. Customers agree to either top up the vehicle tank on return, or accept a charge for the fuel used during their hire period, according to the rental company.

For Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental, with a fleet of 600 vehicles at its branch at South Street in Glasgow, this fuel in vehicle tanks amounts to a significant amount of business capital, which is effectively locked into stock.

Furthermore, as each fleet vehicle reaches the end of its hire service life, it is usually resold through the Group’s national used sales outlets with each vehicle taking out a full tank of fuel.

Then of course, as replacement vehicles were purchased they have to be fuelled before entering the hire fleet. The recycling unit not only provides a local depot fuelling point, but also a safe means of transferring the fuel stock to the replacement vehicles.