Thursday, October 2, 2008
Issued on behalf of the Government Car and Despatch Agency
THE AGENCY which keeps Britain's government on the road has been named 2008's 'Public Sector Fleet of the Year' in the prestigious annual GreenFleet environmental awards.
Ben Davis, fleet manager of the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA), also collected the award for Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year at the ninth annual award ceremony, hosted by Richmond Council and held at Twickenham Stadium last week.
This was only the second year that the Agency had entered the awards, and GCDA Chief Executive Roy Burke said yesterday that he was delighted by his team's outstanding success.
"We were runners-up last year, our first attempt, and that was certainly a wonderful achievement - but to be outright winners in our category this year is recognition of the significant changes the Agency has brought about during the past two years, particularly in reducing the environmental impact of our vehicles," said Mr Burke.
"This is well-earned recognition for the hard work of Ben Davis and all the Agency's staff, from the offices to the workshops. Like the GreenFleet award judges, I am very impressed by what they have achieved."
The GreenFleet awards are judged by a panel of experts from the Institute of Car Fleet Management, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership and GreenFleet magazine, and recognise the efforts of transport providers across the UK to cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions. This year the awards attracted a record number of entries.
In just over three years GCDA has transformed its 172-strong pool of government vehicles into one of the greenest car fleets anywhere in the UK. It has doubled the number of low-emission diesel cars it runs but, most impressively, 60 percent of its cars are now 'cleaner' hybrid models.
In January 2005, almost eight out of every 10 of its cars ran on petrol. By March this year petrol-driven cars had been cut to 16 percent of the fleet - fewer than two in ten. The average engine size of the fleet has also been reduced to 1741cc from 2247cc four years ago.
With the environment the biggest issue on the British Government's agenda, GCDA's programme to make its operation greener and cleaner is a carbon emissions success story.
The agency's tailpipe emissions have been cut by more than a third, from 232.03g CO2/km in 2004/5 to 145 .17g CO2/km in 2007/8. The GCDA is already within striking distance of the government's own deadline of a maximum of 130g CO2/km emissions by 2012 - it already achieves this target on all newly-purchased cars - and the Cabinet Office has cited the agency as an example of best practice.
Award-winning fleet manager Ben Davis said: "We have done a lot of work on 'greening' the fleet over the past two years and I am delighted that our achievements have been recognised in this way.
THE GOVERNMENT CAR AND DESPATCH AGENCY: BACKGROUND INFORMATION
GCDA (the Government Car and Despatch Agency) is a not-for-profit agency staffed by security-cleared civil servants, bidding alongside commercial companies for government transport contracts. It provides a wide range of services covering every type of transport used by government and its clients, from fleet management to transport logistics for a VIP visit, and from taxi services to day-by-day chauffeur and car hire. Its Government Mail arm has its own secure courier delivery network, a mail-screening service and confidential waste disposal facilities.
Other elements of the GCDA's proactive emissions-reduction programme include:
THE AGENCY which keeps Britain's government on the road has been named 2008's 'Public Sector Fleet of the Year' in the prestigious annual GreenFleet environmental awards.
Ben Davis, fleet manager of the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA), also collected the award for Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year at the ninth annual award ceremony, hosted by Richmond Council and held at Twickenham Stadium last week.
This was only the second year that the Agency had entered the awards, and GCDA Chief Executive Roy Burke said yesterday that he was delighted by his team's outstanding success.
"We were runners-up last year, our first attempt, and that was certainly a wonderful achievement - but to be outright winners in our category this year is recognition of the significant changes the Agency has brought about during the past two years, particularly in reducing the environmental impact of our vehicles," said Mr Burke.
"This is well-earned recognition for the hard work of Ben Davis and all the Agency's staff, from the offices to the workshops. Like the GreenFleet award judges, I am very impressed by what they have achieved."
The GreenFleet awards are judged by a panel of experts from the Institute of Car Fleet Management, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership and GreenFleet magazine, and recognise the efforts of transport providers across the UK to cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions. This year the awards attracted a record number of entries.
In just over three years GCDA has transformed its 172-strong pool of government vehicles into one of the greenest car fleets anywhere in the UK. It has doubled the number of low-emission diesel cars it runs but, most impressively, 60 percent of its cars are now 'cleaner' hybrid models.
In January 2005, almost eight out of every 10 of its cars ran on petrol. By March this year petrol-driven cars had been cut to 16 percent of the fleet - fewer than two in ten. The average engine size of the fleet has also been reduced to 1741cc from 2247cc four years ago.
With the environment the biggest issue on the British Government's agenda, GCDA's programme to make its operation greener and cleaner is a carbon emissions success story.
The agency's tailpipe emissions have been cut by more than a third, from 232.03g CO2/km in 2004/5 to 145 .17g CO2/km in 2007/8. The GCDA is already within striking distance of the government's own deadline of a maximum of 130g CO2/km emissions by 2012 - it already achieves this target on all newly-purchased cars - and the Cabinet Office has cited the agency as an example of best practice.
Award-winning fleet manager Ben Davis said: "We have done a lot of work on 'greening' the fleet over the past two years and I am delighted that our achievements have been recognised in this way.
THE GOVERNMENT CAR AND DESPATCH AGENCY: BACKGROUND INFORMATION
GCDA (the Government Car and Despatch Agency) is a not-for-profit agency staffed by security-cleared civil servants, bidding alongside commercial companies for government transport contracts. It provides a wide range of services covering every type of transport used by government and its clients, from fleet management to transport logistics for a VIP visit, and from taxi services to day-by-day chauffeur and car hire. Its Government Mail arm has its own secure courier delivery network, a mail-screening service and confidential waste disposal facilities.
Other elements of the GCDA's proactive emissions-reduction programme include:
- Offering incentives to the private offices of government departments to persuade them to switch to smaller, more environmentally friendly cars. Since the scheme began in late 2006 there has been a 65% take-up of the offer with a further 23% switching on renewal of the vehicle.
- Driver training to reduce fuel consumption. Partly as a result of this, the GCDA's fuel consumption has dropped by 17 percent over the last 12 months, a carbon saving of 311 tonnes.
- Providing an environmentally friendly taxi service for public sector clients which halves the carbon footprint they would make if they used traditional black cabs.
Categories entered in the 2008 GreenFleet Awards:
PUBLIC SECTOR FLEET OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Enterprise Rent-a-Car - Shortlist:
Gateshead Council
Government Car & Despatch Agency (winners)
Humberside Police
FLEET MANAGER OF THE YEAR (PUBLIC SECTOR)
sponsored by Civica - Shortlist:
Graham Telfer - Gateshead Council
Ben Davis - Government Car & Despatch Agency (winners)
Alan Hocking - Humberside Police
For further information, comment and/or interviews, please contact
Harvey Leonard
020 7217 3849
harvey.leonard@gcda.gsi.gov.uk
PUBLIC SECTOR FLEET OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Enterprise Rent-a-Car - Shortlist:
Gateshead Council
Government Car & Despatch Agency (winners)
Humberside Police
FLEET MANAGER OF THE YEAR (PUBLIC SECTOR)
sponsored by Civica - Shortlist:
Graham Telfer - Gateshead Council
Ben Davis - Government Car & Despatch Agency (winners)
Alan Hocking - Humberside Police
For further information, comment and/or interviews, please contact
Harvey Leonard
020 7217 3849
harvey.leonard@gcda.gsi.gov.uk
posted by transport blogs
@ 9:59 PM
permanent link | Post a Comment
|
Clock
