ALD Automotive has had its contribution to reducing fleet emissions endorsed by winning two Energy Saving Trust Awards.

At an awards ceremony held in the Museum of London Docklands and sponsored by the Department for Transport, BMW, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car, Highways England and Volkswagen, the Energy Saving Trust’s 12th annual Fleet Hero Awards named the organisations that are showing the UK the way in reducing emissions from road transport. 

ALD won the Innovation Award for the ALD Mobility Experience and other initiatives, while consultancy services manager Matt Dale shared the Unsung Fleet Hero Award with David Hosking at Tusker.

Dale said: “These awards validate the strategies that we are implementing as a business. By taking a different view and challenging normal thinking, not just focusing on simply promoting more company cars, we want to stimulate the conversation and ultimately play a key role in building fleet policies that successfully meet businesses’ changing needs.”

Among the winners were Leeds City Council for its work on introducing an ultra-low emission fleet, Heathrow Airport for installing a sizeable network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers, the University of Birmingham for its fleet and Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust for implementing a series of measures to move staff into more sustainable methods of transport.

Presented by Red Dwarf star, Scrapheap challenge host and motoring journalist, Robert Llewellyn, the shortlist featured 28 entries from across the whole of the UK.

Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said: “The entries were very competitive and it is very encouraging to see such a swell of new entrants this year. 

“Such was the standard of entries that our judges had an extremely difficult time in picking our winners – indeed the competition in the Unsung Fleet Hero category was so strong that two winners were recognised. The judges were keen to highlight the important role of inspired and determined individuals in driving change.” 

The 2017 awards have taken place against a backdrop of a quickening uptake of plug-in vehicles driven by governments and manufacturers, pushes to increase the accessibility of charging infrastructure and a sense of urgency to tackle air quality issues.

Fleets and businesses from across the country are repositioning themselves to meet these challenges and opportunities head on. Judges are seeing a higher standard of entries than ever before, particularly in the Ultra-low Emission Fleet, Innovation and Unsung Fleet Hero categories.

The winners were:

Best Public Sector Fleet:

University of Birmingham

Best Business Sector Fleet:

Z-Tech Control Systems

Smarter Travel:

Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust

Efficient Driving:

British Gas

Clean Air:

Cross River Partnership

Innovation:

ALD Automotive

Ultra Low Emission Fleet:

Leeds City Council

Ultra-low Emission Infrastructure:

Heathrow Airport

Unsung Fleet Hero:

Matt Dale, ALD Automotive

David Hosking, Tusker

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