HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England, February 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Smarter Driving Techniques Can Save Drivers up to GBP250 Per Year on Fuel

Research by the Energy Saving Trust has found businesses are losing 8 days of every company driver's time per month due to the journeys they undertake for their business. For companies with a large number of drivers this will result in a significant loss of time throughout a year.

It also found that company car drivers are using their cars on average six times a week (some as many as 23 journeys per week) to travel as short a journey as under two miles.

The Energy Saving Trust's advice service for business car fleets estimates that by implementing environmental practices including smarter driving and teleconferencing, a business with a fleet of 100 vehicles could save GBP90,000 a year.

If companies and their drivers used eco-friendly cars for their fleets this could save them nearly GBP3 billion per year in reduced fuel and national insurance costs. There is now a much wider range of eco-friendly cars such as BMW, Volkswagen and Ford.

As part of the research the Energy Saving Trust also identified different types of driver tribes within a business. It identified different characteristics that are held by a driver depending upon their attitudes, driving techniques, car of choice and their love of driving.

34 per cent of female company drivers were described as 'Responsible Roadies' who, although not choosing the most environmentally friendly car, do make an effort to drive in a greener way, revealed the research. Men though, cancel out this good work. Male 'Petrolheads' are the speed machines of the road who know a lot about the cars but not about smarter driving.

The research identified there are five different tribes of company car driver:

Responsible Roadies (27 per cent)

Calm, respectful middle managers, a high proportion of whom are women, who are not fussed about the car's brand. They are interested in green issues, but don't necessarily drive a more environmentally friendly car.

Petrolheads (27 per cent)

Status-driven middle-aged male speeders who love knowing about cars and have little interest in green issues.

Eco Drivers (19 per cent)

Younger middle managers, who are sympathetic to green issues. Whilst they see the company car as necessary for their jobs, they want to see companies pay more tax if they run high emitting fleets.

Cash Counters (15 per cent)

Younger, junior executives (aged 30 and under) for whom the car is a piggy bank. They are ambivalent about green issues, disrespectful of other drivers and admit to driving fast and dangerously. Their aim is to make money out of their car.

High Milers (13 per cent)

Older managers (aged 31+) who spend a lot of time on the road, don't care if they irritate other drivers, and don't bother much about green issues, brand status or whether they can make money out of the car. Quite frankly, they're sick and tired of driving for work.

For the 'Petrolheads', 'Cash Counters' and 'High Milers' they can now change their behaviour with tailored support from the Energy Saving Trust's new smarter driving training programme which can help reduce fuel costs by GBP200 to GBP250 per year for each driver*.

Nigel Underdown, Head of Transport Advice at the Energy Saving Trust commented:

It's basic dashboard management - get your employees saving you money and being safer on the road to boot. Getting smarter driving implemented in to businesses will help eliminate these wasteful driver tribes and put everyone in to the 'Responsible Roadies' and 'Eco Drivers'.

Large savings can be made and if every business in the UK followed green fleet practices across the UK, we could save up to GBP3 billion per year. Businesses should take this opportunity to work with us and receive this free and impartial advice to help their company save money and energy.

To find out what driver 'tribe' you belong to, enter our competition to win free smarter driving training for up to 32 employees by visiting the website at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/drivertribes. If you are interested in getting your company free impartial advice for your fleet call +44(0)845-602-1425 or visit http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/fleet.

Notes to Editor

* The fuel cost saving is based on a car driving 12,000 miles per year.

Among the Energy Saving Trust's other findings: - People like driving their cars for work; 17 per cent absolutely love it, compared to just one per cent who say they hate it - Although they have a company car, 60 per cent of people use other forms of transport, or even walk, for business journeys. - Almost half of respondents say they are interested in green issues. - Almost four in five (77 per cent) company cars have smaller engines under two litres. - The average number of journeys taken per month is 34 - Miles per week travelled is on average 367

About the Energy Saving Trust's Business Transport Advice programme

With funding from the Department for Transport, the Energy Saving Trust offers a free Green Fleet Review consultancy service to companies with 50 or more vehicles under 3.5 tonnes in England. For smaller fleets a free telephone advice service and monthly fleet updates email are available. In Scotland the Green Fleet Review Service is available to organisations with 20 or more vehicles under 3.5 tonnes and is funded by the Scottish Government.

The Energy Saving Trust also runs the Motorvate on behalf of the Department for Transport. This is a member based accreditation scheme that sets measurable carbon reduction targets for companies who wish to demonstrate their commitment to lowering their carbon dioxide emissions and receive certification from an independent, respected source.

Advice and material on running green fleets is available from: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/fleet or by calling the Transport Advice hotline on: +44(0)845-602-1425.

For more information contact Caroline Rams, PR Executive at the Energy Saving Trust on +44(0)20-7227-0398 or email caroline.rams@est.org.uk