Savings enter the one million pound mark - a force to be reckoned with

Humberside Police has over 460 vehicles and has nearly finished converting the entire fleet.

Alan Hocking, Fleet and Suppliers Officer said:

"The cost of fuel versus petrol and diesel makes Autogas a very attractive proposition. However the investment is not purely financial. Looking to the future, it is anticipated that all vehicles (certainly those in city centres) will have to comply with increasingly stringent pollution levels. We are investing in that future now.

In 1996, we started looking at our fleet and taking a greater interest in the environment. The message from the government was that we would be forced to go down this route eventually. So it was natural we looked at LPG".

Hocking also got a boost from Powershift, the UK Government sponsored programme promoting cleaner fuels. It subsidised 75% of the LPG conversion costs. With official backing behind him, the Humberside fleet boss got onto Shell Autogas. Shell agreed to put in 17 LPG tanks for free, with the force only having to pay for the concrete foundation and electrical connection.

If you multiply the fuel savings across 460 vehicles over a four year period, you are looking at a saving of 1 million pounds.