Green light for green techniques amongst the green valleys

25 September 2008

DriveTech’s Director of Communications, Steve Johnson, will be driving an official Vauxhall entry in the MPG Marathon, which takes place on October 8th and 9th over a challenging 400+ mile route across Wales.

Johnson, aided by experienced co-driver Paul Marshall, will be crewing a Vauxhall Combo 1.3 diesel van in an attempt to capture the medium van class in this highly topical motoring event, which is attempting to promote the merits of environmentally sensitive driving techniques. Johnson has won his class on two occasions in the past in this event, last year achieving the highest ever mpg figure for a large van in the competition to date.

“We’ll be using exactly the same kinds of techniques that DriveTech advocates in its Eco Real World Driving Combination course,” says Johnson. “It’s all about 100% concentration, planning well ahead and driving as smoothly as possible.” DriveTech has experienced a substantial increase in interest in recent months for its Eco Driving products within the FleetSafe brand line up.

The 2008 MPG Marathon starts from Bristol, uses a variety of road types through Wales to an overnight halt at Macclesfield, before returning to Bristol on the second day via a different but equally circuitous route through the Welsh borders. Some 40 vehicles are taking part, comprising both cars and vans, with a number of vehicle manufacturers submitting official entries, including several hybrids.

The MPG Marathon is organised by Fleet World Magazine and is authorised by the RACMSA.

Further information about all the DriveTech brands, including DriveTech FleetSafe, please refer to www.drivetech.co.uk

For further information, members of the media should contact
Steve Johnson on direct line +44 (0)1344 467896, mobile +44 (0)7894 621134 or on steve.johnson@drivetech.co.uk

Editor's Notes

DriveTech (UK) plc is one of the UK’s leading providers of road risk management, driver assessment and education. We work both with organisations whose employees ‘drive for work’ and with members of the public, who are offered education as an alternative to prosecution by the police.

DriveTech’s vision is ‘working together to eliminate road death and serious injuries’ by providing the most effective and innovative solutions, using education and technology, to minimise risk for all road users.

DriveTech (UK) has won the Institute of Transport Management’s (ITM) ‘Fleet Award for Driver Training’ in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and the ‘European Driver Safety Specialist’ award in 2005. In September 2007, it was named the ITM’s ‘UK Driver Training Solutions Specialist’ for making ‘the most significant impact upon the Driver Training and Safety sector over the past decade’.

In 2007, DriveTech (UK) won the South England and South Wales regional award of the Bank of Scotland Corporate ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ of up to £5m, interest-free funding and was runner-up in the national Grand Finale. In addition, the company was named runner-up in the 2007 Thames Valley ‘Business of the Year’ award.