According to official figures, uptake of LPG fuelled cars is on the rise: more companies are adding them to their fleets, attracted by the lower pump prices and reduced CO2 emissions.

Not everyone is a convert. Damian James trialled 12 LPG vehicles while fleet manager at South West Water. It was, in his words, “a disaster” and he pledged never to use them again.

“Running two fuels through one engine doesn’t work,” James says. “We had reliability issues and problems with smooth running. Drivers would turn off the LPG.”

When he left South West Water for his current role as head of transport provision at Bracknell Forest Council, he inherited 90 LPGs out of a fleet of 160 vehicles. It only served to reinforce his view.

“The fuel is cheaper, but fuel efficiency is worse,” he says, adding: “There is no viable option for alternative fuels for commercial vehicles to replace diesel.”

What about the Government’s eagerness to promote and push electric vehicles? “We will be a follower, not a leader. I don’t see it as a viable alternative yet – there are too many questions over battery life and recharging.”

It’s an unexpected and unusual attitude for a public sector fleet decision maker to adopt. Local authorities are under mounting pressure from central government to be seen to be taking a lead on the environmental agenda.

For most, that means embracing alternative forms of propulsion like electricity, LPG and CNG.

For James, it means taking a different approach, one based primarily around driver training. He is also updating the council’s ageing fleet with efficient Euro 4 compliant diesel vehicles, but laments the lack of published data on CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency. “It’s a real bugbear,” he adds.

He has put 20 drivers through SAFED training, which achieved 14% uplift in fuel savings. Faulty driving – such as heavy braking and changing gears at the wrong time - fell by half.

Further driver training via an external trainer is being planned as part of Bracknell’s climate change action plan, which includes centralisation of all fleet functions to James, reducing mileage and cutting staff allowances.

Bracknell has around 1,000 grey fleet users, of which 600 - dubbed essential users – receive a monthly allowance of £1,000. At the moment they fall between HR and individual line managers. James wants to tighten the process by bringing them within the fleet operation.

He is also reassessing the cash allowance scheme. The changes come in from September: the allowance will be reduced and around 250 essential users will become casual users, taking the number to 650.

They will either get paid a mileage rate for using their own vehicles or have the option to use a hire car, pool car, local taxi or pool bicycle.

“It’s a thorny issue but in the current climate there is more focus on costs and efficiency,” he says.

James’s route into fleet management, like many of his peers, was not a conscious career choice.

He studied countryside management at Plymouth University and only ended up in fleet management when the offer of a tax office job at Devon County Council fell through.
“They offered me the job then phoned the next day to say it was no longer available,” James says. “Instead they offered me a job in transport.”

In need of a full-time job, he took it. Between 1998 and 2005 he worked in the fleet department at South West Water overseeing around 1,000 vehicles. While there, he underwent further training, completing the certificate of professional competency and a diploma in management.

But faced with a lack of career options, he answered a job ad in Fleet News and took up his current position at Bracknell.

Traditional fleet management is only a small part of his job now, accounting for 10-15% of his time. The council’s fleet has reduced from 150 to 60 (six cars, 32 vans, 19 mini buses and five ‘O’ licence vehicles) and James is supported by two part-time fleet administrators who handle day-to-day operations.

Much of his time is spent on contract management. He is responsible for overseeing the outsourced contract for transporting 1,000 children to and from school every day.
Following a review of social care and community transport, James expects to bring full control of that operation in-house shortly.

His first action will be to look at the fleet of mini buses. “They are very under utilised and could be used for other things which could halve the fleet size,” he says.

“But we want to take on more work and reduce our external contractor spend, so that could mean we retain the fleet.”

Vehicle tracking is key to utilisation and James introduced dynamic vehicle scheduling software Cleric last year. It enables him to schedule routes in a more efficient way by bringing together vehicles, clients and locations and calculating the optimum route.

He is keen to get to real time vehicle scheduling and mapping, but believes it is still a couple of years away. ”I want to be in a position where we get a call from a client and we know where the nearest vehicle is to be able to say ‘it will be with you in 10 minutes’,” he says.

As part of his climate change action plan, James will be assessing the age and condition of all vehicles on the fleet. Each averages 7,000 miles a year on a lease contract based on an 8-10 year replacement cycle.

“We have no up to date vehicles which means a lack of efficiency,” he says. “They are unreliable and not fit for purpose.”

He has already started changing the funding method from finance lease to outright purchase, negotiating hard on manufacturer discounts. Those vehicles are then sold to a third party finance house and leased back by the council. Bracknell uses three lenders: Lloyds, Grosvenor and Days.

“I piggy-backed on the national framework agreements, for example, the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation,” James says. “It saves me 10-20% per vehicle.”

Vehicles that are on lease finance were re-negotiated two years ago to include maintenance contracts at no additional cost.

As a result, Bracknell closed its workshops last October, outsourcing the work to local providers. It’s another example of how James has saved the council money over the past four years.

“We saved money, got a better service and it is more efficient,” he says.

‘We are accountable to the public’

When Damian James left South West Water for Bracknell Forest Council, a move which took him from private company to public sector, he admits the culture change came as “a bit of a shock”.

“You have to learn a different way of doing things – there’s more politics involved, which adds a new dimension,” he says.

“In the private sector, if you have a business plan and the board approves it, off you go. In public, there are consultations and more people involved in the decisions. It takes more time but sometimes that result is better because there are more views from staff and external clients.

“When you reach the decision point there are no surprises because you have done all the work before. The decision becomes relatively simple to take.”

Contrary to popular perception, public sector fleets are under as much pressure to reduce costs as private organisations.

“Part of my performance management is budgets,” says James. “It’s not free money – if anything we are more accountable because it’s the public’s money we are spending. We aren’t here to make money; we are here to run services on behalf of the public.”

Company Bracknell Forest Council

Business: Local authority
Head of transport provision: Damian James
Fleet size: 60 (six cars, 32 vans, 19 mini buses and five ‘O’ licence vehicles)
No of grey vehicles: 1,000
Funding option: sale and leaseback