Northern Gas Networks (NGN) has been awarded Freight Transport Association (FTA) Van Excellence accreditation.

The gas distributer for the North of England, Northern Cumbria and most of Yorkshire secured the recognition after passing a stringent audit at the start of November.

NGN’s current fleet consists of 550 commercial vehicles and FTA Van Excellence accreditation demonstrates a business’s commitment to safer, more efficient and sustainable van operations.

The audit explores every aspect of safety; from policies to Green Road telematics, vehicle MOTs and servicing, records keeping and licensing to driver behaviour, competence and identification.

It also examines the mechanisms in place for reporting and repairing faults, promoting safe ways of working and engaging staff in actively adopting these processes.

The FTA gave particular praise to NGN’s electronic driver licensing and drug and alcohol checks policies – rated as ‘ahead of the game’ by inspectors.

Fleet and facilities manager for NGN, Mark Squires, said: “This is clear recognition from a prestigious national organisation that as a business we take our driver safety and fleet management obligations very seriously, and that our systems and procedures are robust.

“The majority of the work that enabled NGN to achieve this status is being done every single day by our operational managers, supervisors and the drivers themselves.

“Managers, the health and safety team and our driver coaches have played a massive role through their focus on driver behaviour which is clearly reflected by our Green Road scores.

“This is fantastic news for NGN and something we should be extremely proud of given how crucial the role of our fleet is to our business.”