Fuel prices force fleets to take action

The price of fuel has risen by 23%, or 21 pence per litre, for petrol over the past 12 months and almost 13% (13ppl) for diesel.

For a petrol car averaging 40mpg and 20,000 miles a year, this has pushed up the annual fuel bill for fleets by £460.

But unlike the fuel crisis of 2000, people have not taken to the streets to blockade the refineries, preventing fuel from reaching forecourts.

Those protests were prompted by fuel rising above 80ppl and resulted in the Government announcing a two-year freeze on fuel duty.

The last attempt at a protest was a low key affair in 2007 when prices rose above £1 per litre for the first time. It had no impact.

Now consider that, as at the end of February, prices stood at 114.3ppl for diesel and 112.1ppl for petrol. And analysts expect further rises this year.

One reason for the lack of protest is the more gradual rise in prices, a steady drip-drip of penny increases week-on-week, month-on-month, that have had a less noticeable effect on the wallet.

Since the start of the year, average prices have gone up by 4% – 4.6ppl on diesel and 4.4ppl on petrol.

This rising cost of fuel is forcing fleets to take action, especially those running vans.

Many have introduced speed limiters, but the policies differ. RAC and Indesit have set them at 70mph – both with motorway journeys in mind.

“We still had drivers complain, but I’m looking after their best interest by keeping them to the speed limit,” says Indesit’s van fleet manager Gus Pasqualino.

“We set it at 70mph because that’s the maximum speed vans are allowed to go. If we’d set it at 62mph, motor-way travelling would have affected the number of calls they could do a day,” says Pasqualino.

He accepts that driving at 60mph instead of 70mph saves around 10% on fuel costs and CO2 emissions, but adds: “This is a first step.”

In contrast, Nathan Johnson, public open space manager at the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, has set his limiters at 56mph, potentially saving up to 25% compared to 70mph driving.

“There aren’t many motorways in our borough,” he says. “It still didn’t go down well with some drivers but we spoke to the unions and got it accepted.”

Cost might put some fleets off from introducing limiters, but this need not be the case

Pasqualino talked to his manufacturer suppliers and got the limiters fitted as a free of charge option.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” he says.