Ian Craig Haulage improves mpg with TomTom Telematics

Scottish haulier Ian Craig Haulage says it has improved mpg by 10% by using TomTom Telematics’ Webfleet fleet management solution.

The company, which specialises in brick and block haulage for the construction industry, has also seen a significant reduction in fleet admin time since the installation of the technology across its fleet of 75 HGVs in May 2018, it said.

“Although we’d been using basic onboard tracking from our vehicle supplier for over 10 years, we wanted a more sophisticated solution which also gave us vehicle and driver behaviour data in the same system,” explained director Colin Craig.

The company is using Webfleet’s OptiDrive 360 functionality to measure and monitor the efficiency and safety of employees’ driving style on the road.

Weekly reports are left in the main drivers’ reception to allow them to check on their current OptiDrive score and how they compare with others.

“It’s created a bit of friendly rivalry between the drivers as they try to beat each other and has made everyone much more aware of how they are driving,” said Craig. ”By reducing incidents such as harsh braking, sharp cornering or speeding, we’ve managed to push our mpg up by 10%. That translates into big savings across the whole fleet in both fuel costs and CO2.

“We’re now looking to introduce a fair way of rewarding drivers who improve on their OptiDrive score which reflects different work and payloads.”

Webfleet’s integral tachograph manager is also making compliance much easier for the haulier through automated downloads of driver card and vehicle unit data. 

“As we can now remotely download all the data from the office, it takes away the responsibility from the driver, meaning that downloads are never missed,” added Craig. “It also saves our drivers considerable time through less administration and by eliminating the need to return to the depot.

“The ability to quickly check on our drivers’ daily remaining driving time has also proved invaluable, as we can see instantly if each driver has enough driving time left to do the next delivery job, as well as when his next break should be and when the shift ends.”

Beverley Wise, director UK and Ireland for TomTom Telematics, concluded: “This is another excellent example of how Webfleet provides everything a haulier needs for fuel efficiency, dynamic dispatching and regulation compliance.”