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Ferns Surfacing cuts CO₂ emissions and annual fuel costs by £160,000 with improved driving performance

London, 21 November 2013
A leading reinstatement company has revealed it has slashed carbon emissions and annual fuel costs by £160,000 with TomTom fleet management technology.

Ferns Surfacing is using TomTom’s driver behaviour monitoring tools to underpin a performance improvement programme that, within just three months, has reduced incidents of speeding by 95 per cent. Other incidents of undesirable driving, such as harsh steering and braking, decreased by 65 per cent.

Ferns Surfacing has achieved the savings by empowering their drivers with TomTom Active Driver Feedback, which feeds data back to drivers in real time through their navigation devices to improve their style on the move. These devices, combined with tracking and ecoPLUS fuel management units have been installed across the company’s 100-strong vehicle fleet, ranging from 3.5 tonne tippers to 32 tonne hiabs.

At every depot, Ferns offered a weekly incentive for the driver with the best or most improved performance. The worst performing drivers meanwhile have been given one-to-one support and encouragement.

“As well as fuel savings of £160,000 within 12 months, the improvements in driver behaviour have also led to a reduction of £50,000 in our insurance premiums” said Andy Saunders, Ferns Surfacing Contracts Director.

“The business benefits gained from the TomTom installation have been phenomenal. If it cost twice as much, we’d still use it”

Following the system’s introduction, Ferns has also successfully cut CO₂ emissions – a key component of new contract tenders – by 36 per cent and is able to provide demonstrable proof of the improvements.

Vehicle and driving behaviour data is available for managers in WEBFLEET, TomTom’s online fleet management software, as a live dashboard or in a customisable report. An OptiDrive indicator combines the fuel efficiency information with speeding, idling and braking data, and scores the driver out of 10 in a column stack chart.

In addition, the TomTom system helps ensure vehicle utilisation is optimised and that job delays are kept to a minimum, which helps to avoid large penalties for the company. This is made possible by TomTom’s smart mapping and navigation tools, including live traffic information, to help cut journey times.

Part of the Ferns Group, Ferns Surfacing undertakes more than 40,000 reinstatement projects annually, on public highways and private land, from minor remedial work to large scale resurfacing.