FLEETS must take steps to ensure drivers do not defraud companies by buying items such as sandwiches and cigarettes and claiming them as fuel, Shell has warned. Tim Betts, manager Shell Fuel and Fleet Services - speaking at the Fleet News Roadshow in Donington - said that preventing each driver from buying just one pack of cigarettes a week would result in savings of about £7,500 a year for a 50-vehicle fleet.

He said fuel cards could stop drivers abusing the system, as could training, incentives and discipline. 'As long as transactions are not through fuel cards, drivers can buy whatever they want and the company pays for it, because at filling stations all kinds of bargaining goes on between drivers and sales assistants,' he claimed, adding that electronic options such as fuel cards enabled fleets to restrict payment to fuels and lubricants and in some cases restricted the types of fuel which could be bought.