Companies should name and shame their least efficient drivers in an attempt to cut fuel costs.

Tighter management of fuel costs, including tactics such as identifying highest fuel-consuming drivers in the company, is the answer says Andrew Leech, business manager at Mycompanyfleet, the automotive division of HR solutions provider, NorthgateArinso.

He says companies should ‘name and shame’ the worst offenders as an example to other drivers if it means that action to control costs is then taken.

According to fuel prices website petrolprices.com, the price of a gallon of the UK’s most expensive diesel went through the £6 barrier last week, with unleaded not far behind at £5.95.

The national average was £5.44 a gallon for diesel and £5.33 for petrol, amongst the highest seen so far.

With an increase in VAT to 20% from January increasing prices still further, although most businesses can reclaim the VAT, the onus is on fleets to use whatever management techniques they can to keep fuel costs under control.

Leech says fleet management software can play a key role in helping fleet managers identify where the highest fuel spends are.

Systems can visually display key cost centres to show expenditure against budget, and to highlight any areas of potential or actual overspend.

Systems can be configured to show league tables of the top 10 most fuel-efficient drivers and vehicles on the fleet and those which are the worst, so that fleet managers can take decisions quickly and effectively to remedy the situation.

“If necessary, fleet managers can use our system to name and shame the worst offenders and to highlight the least fuel efficient vehicles on the fleet. Tough times sometimes require tough measures,” said Leech.

”This ability gives managers the ammunition to challenge driver behaviours and to consider introducing other initiatives such as eco-driver training, as in the current climate no manager is likely to want to be the winner in the fuel cost race."