FLEETS are losing millions of pounds in fuel and time because their drivers are relying on out-of-date maps and not planning their journeys. Motoring organisation the AA says fleet drivers make up the majority of motorists who waste an estimated 350,000 tonnes of fuel a year backtracking and sitting in lay-bys looking at directions because they are lost.

As well as burning money and pushing up fleet fuel bills, drivers are also risking important deals by being late, or being too agitated to do their job properly. According to the AA, simply buying an up to date map and planning journeys in advance, a service which could be provided by a cost-conscious fleet manager, would save money, fuel and tempers.

A spokesman for the organisation said: 'Even an atlas as recent as 1995 will now contain about 12,000 inaccuracies. In the past year alone we have made 3,000 changes to our maps. For fleets, time is money and it is vital that drivers know where they are going.'