Van contract hire drivers urged to cut down on wasted journeys
Thursday 25 February 2010 Back to Blog
Van contract hire drivers and others in the delivery and courier businesses have been urged to cut down on the number of "wasted journeys" they make.
The Transport Exchange Group (TEG) said that sending empty vehicles back to the depot after they had delivered their load is a waste and harmful to the environment.
Lyall Cresswell, the group's managing director, said the technology now exists to make it easy for companies to match loads with empty vehicles heading along the right routes.
According to Department for Transport figures from 2007, the average haulier's vehicles ran empty for slightly more than a quarter of their time on the road.
Mr Cresswell said: "This is money down the drain – pure and simple. Even if we are coming out of recession, no-one can afford to be complacent about empty trucks and vans. If you miss an opportunity, you can be sure someone else will try to pick it up."
This week businessdesk.com reported that a Liverpool haulier, Maguire Trading, went out of businesses partly down to the continued rise of fuel costs.