CATERING equipment supplier Hopkins Catering is claiming reductions in fuel use, overtime costs and increased sales after installing a new web-based vehicle information service.

Hopkins is the largest manufacturer of equipment to Britain's fish and chip market. The company's drivers and engineers work throughout the country installing and maintaining industrial cookers, fryers, fridges and other equipment. The firm has installed Masternaut to its fleet of vehicles to provide automatic time-log reports and track costs.

v Masternaut gives a precise location of each vehicle so the office does not need to call the drivers to find out their whereabouts.

This is also allowing improved emergency service response by identifying nearest suitable resource and informing customers of expected arrival times.

Hopkins is also using Masternaut's route planner which is provided on-line as part of the service. Drivers can receive directions when going to a new site and be advised on best routes if there are traffic problems.

The company is also installing driver ID facility that automatically identifies the driver of any vehicle. Chris Hopkins, managing director of the caterer, said: 'Increasing traffic makes journey times much less predictable and in order to maintain service levels and improve efficiency, we need accurate information. Masternaut gives us an instant picture of the operation at any time and provides vital activity reports so we can easily pinpoint any problem areas.'