A TEAM who saved South Tyneside Council £450,000 – and helped the environment – has been recognised at a top ‘green’ award ceremony.
Workers, who keep the council’s environmentally friendly fleet of vehicles on the road, were highly placed at the recent Fleet Hero Awards at a ceremony in London held by the Energy Saving Trust.
The council’s fleet service team was runner-up in the best public sector fleet category.
South Tyneside Council’s fleet services team provides and maintains all of the vehicles required by the council and South Tyneside Homes, including cars, vans, buses, gritting lorries, bin and gully wagons.
The team consists of 14 staff who maintain more than 350 vehicles.
They also provide maintenance to many other customers, along with taxi and MoT testing facilities.
Coun Tracey Dixon, lead member for area management and community safety at South Tyneside Council, said: “We strive to keep abreast of modern technology and explore methods of reducing the overall effects that vehicles have on the environment.
“We have a team of highly-trained staff, who professionally apply the cutting edge methods and techniques, with all of the hard work being reflected in this well-deserved national recommendation.”
The various new systems and procedures implemented by the fleet management team has made an annual saving of more than £450,000.
The Energy Saving Trust works with communities and with households, running UK-wide trials on new and emerging technologies.
Work in South Tyneside includes the introduction of electric vehicles, installing tracking and satnav systems to improve vehicle use, the introduction of an environmental management system, and investing in new equipment.
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