When HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) set out to cut its business mileage, it told its 66,000 staff to pick up a phone wherever possible rather than jump in a car.
The simple tactic has been spectacularly successful, helping the government department cut carbon emissions by 17% in fiscal year 2009/10. This year's Fleet Hero award for business mileage management will be added to the one HMRC earned last year for best large public sector fleet. "Our travel is significantly decreasing," says Pete Gleeson, travel and transport executive at HMRC.
HMRC is in the process of opening 10,000 BT "meet me" accounts. These enable employees to conduct conference calls in groups of up to 40 people. The default position is always to avoid travel, he explains. But if staff do have to undertake journeys, they should choose walking and buses over car trips where only one person is in the vehicle.
A range of measures have been introduced to make any unavoidable travel more effective. Satellite navigation has been fitted into HMRC's vehicles, cutting down on many wasted miles, says Gleeson.
