18 September 2002: Up to 20 percent savings can be made in fuel costs with driver training, and companies which run large fleets of vehicles can make significant savings in their transport overheads by sponsoring their drivers to take such training.

In the UK, training courses aimed at showing company drivers how to drive with a lighter right foot also encourage a safety advantage through greater awareness as well as cutting company fuel bills.

Anglian Water and Slough Estates have put their drivers through the new scheme and seen a savings potential of up to 20% of their fleet fuel costs. The course was run by risk management experts Peak Performance Management.

The course enabled people who normally achieved 31mpg to get 37mpg with three people in their car.

In another incidence, the fuel consumption of eight drivers was closely monitored for three months prior to their training, and again for three months following the training, and average fuel consumption was reduced by 8%.