To the dismay of the industry and the Energy Saving Trust, Government decided in June 2006 that grants to help with the additional cost of buying alternatively fuelled vehicles were no longer effective and withdrew them. There is therefore little financial assistance on offer from the Government in the form of grants. The EST does still administer grants for the installation of refuelling infrastructure for alternative fuels including bioethanol and electricity recharging points.

The EST also offers advice on an extensive range of green fleet management techniques and offers free green fleet reviews for fleets. For more information please visit the EST website or phone the transport helpline on 0845 602 1425. Don’t forget to also visit the Merseyside TravelWise website for more information and assistance with travel plans.

The Government has pledged to divert the grant money into publicity campaigns and driver training packages such as the SaFED (Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving) vans scheme which offers subsidised or free environmental driver training for LCV drivers. The Government funding for the original SaFED LGV scheme has ended but training is still available from SaFED instructors. For more information on the SaFED schemes please visit www.safed.org.uk.

The Freight Best Practice initiative provides a wealth of free information and advice to help fleets improve their environmental performance. Fleets can benefit from benchmarking their performance, fleet management software and case studies. Freight Best Practice is funded by the Department for Transport. www.freightbestpractice.org.uk