Van drivers who stop for lunch during their working day and leave their engines running could be racking up hundreds of pounds a year in unnecessary fuel costs, according to Lightfoot.
The telematics and driver coaching company said its in-cab devices had found that fast food restaurant car parks were the places where idling most commonly occurred.
The issue has been identified during the ‘blind’ phase in Lightfoot’s customer onboarding process, during which its devices work in data collection mode, passively recording driver behaviour without providing feedback.
Lightfoot said a diesel van left running for an hour would use about £1.25 (excluding VAT) worth of fuel.
Lightfoot managing director Paul Hollick said: “Our data shows that the fast food car park, especially at lunchtime, is a major hotspot for idling. And if it’s not stopped, it could be costing employers thousands of pounds a year while all their drivers to stop and have lunch.
“If a driver sits in their cab eating a Big Mac meal, and leaves the van idling while they do it, the cost of that lunch goes up from £7.10 to £8.35 with the extra fuel used. That can really add up over the course of the year.”
In addition to the cost, Lightfoot has also pointed out that idling for an hour creates around 2.7kg of CO2 emissions.
Hollick said: “We see that businesses are trying really hard to decarbonise, through better driving, better route planning, more efficient vehicles and electrification, yet it can all be wasted by not policing instances of idling such as this.”
