Public sector fleets could save a minimum of £320 million annually if all Government departments and local authorities used proactive mileage auditing, according to Paul Jackson, MD of mileage audit and fuel management company TMC.

BusinessCar reported last issue that almost all Government departments have ignored grey fleet in their CO2 reduction efforts, which is estimated to account for 57% of public sector mileage. When departments were asked if they knew the amount of grey fleet miles as a percentage of their total business mileage, only eight of the 14 were able to give a current figure.

Jackson said: "The alleged difficulty of controlling grey fleet mileage is greatly exaggerated. It's not an issue of who owns the car - it's a question of how and where business mileage is recorded. This information is already recorded by every organisation via expense claims. The problem is not generally that mileage data is missing but that, as BusinessCar's investigation shows, departments and organisations do not have effective tools or processes for using it to manage their business mileage and related costs.