Fuel wasted, says ETSU
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I by Karen Miles
Truck operators are squandering more than 1200m a year on fuel as well as unnecessarily polluting the environment, the Government is telling hauliers.
The warning came last week as hauliers were preparing to voice their concerns to the Government over high fuel duty rates before next month's Budget when the duty is set to rise again.
The picture of wasteful hauliers was painted by the Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU) after its paymas
ter. the Department of Transport, prompted it to publish the results of the research it carried out last winter on 265 commercial vehicle operators.
Only 30% of the companies knew their total expenditure on fuel, according to the research. ETSU claims that if all operators undertook proper energy efficiency programmes they would save more than £220m a year on their collective fuel bills and would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than a million tonnes.
Fuel consumption can decrease by 50/0 when drivers know their fuel costs are being monitored, according to ETSU. When operators choose the most fuel-efficient vehicles and monitor their fuel consumption, fuel bills can be cut by another 15%, it claims
"With operating profits squeezed by a competitive market and fuel duty planned to increase by 6% above inflation, there will never be a better time for commercial fleet operators to improve their fuel efficiency," says ETSU.
• See Comment, page 6.