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Background
In 2001 the NBS fleet consisted of some 14 different marques in its vehicle parc. These ranged from a multitude of French, German, British and Italian makes to North American manufacturers too!
There was little consistency of approach and no national standards written to adhere to.
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Leasing
In 2001 the NBS fleet consisted of some 14 different marques in its vehicle parc. These ranged from a multitude of French, German, British and Italian makes to North American manufacturers too!
There was little consistency of approach and no national standards written to adhere to.
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Standard Specifications
In addition to this a national vehicle working party was formed consisting of drivers and transport management, with the first job to set about writing standard specifications for each type of vehicle used by the NBS.
The standard specifications ensured that all future vehicles would meet job needs and be fit for purpose, whilst at the same time include minimum safety features such as, anti-lock brakes, airbags and air-conditioning. Each new vehicle is now sourced from one of only four manufacturers. This gives the NBS much more buying power and makes us a major player in the marketplace.
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New Livery
With the appointment of Signs Express as the national livery supplier, we were able to start using the new image livery (white/red stripe) on all new vehicles, with special attention being paid to the emergency response cars and recruitment vehicles. Although we are a recognised emergency service, we do not carry the same exemptions for vehicle livery as the Police, Ambulance and Fire services; as we have to abide by the Road Vehicle Lighting regs. This meant developing our own unique colour scheme, which both fell within the regulations and also distinguished the NBS from any other emergency service.
The recruitment vehicles were also looked at to gain maximum attention when they are out in public. The result has been a fantastic ´body wrap´ displaying some of our donors and patients to great effect.
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Vehicle Replacements
Unfortunately prior to 2001 the NBS incurred a period of inactivity with vehicle replacements, due in part, to the move from regional to national operation. This has meant playing a little bit of catch up with our new replacement standards, but to-date we have replaced over 400 vehicles of the 500 strong fleet, which means that four in every five of our vehicles is at the new standards. In April 2002 the average age profile of the fleet was 5.34 years, in October 2005 it was down to 4.14 years. Fleet Service´s target is an average age of just 3.5 years across the fleet. In this financial year we are going to replace a further 94 vehicles across all functions, due to the success in securing £600k of additional funding from the NCG, to accelerate the programme.
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New Developments
The Fleet Services team is also working very closely with Services to Donors to develop and pilot a new type of vehicle for the directorate. The vehicle is a 6.5t boxvan with a crewcab and although it is lighter and smaller overall than the usual 7.5t boxvans; it has the same volume and carrying capacity. One of main advantages to SD will be the flexibility of its use when planning sessions in the future. The new safety features have been incorporated into the design and the ´small cab´ feel gives the driver a greater sense of confidence when operating them.
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Going Green
Fleet services are also working to reduce the NBS vehicle´s impact on the environment and have evaluated new fuels (sulphur free, ultra low sulphur diesel, diesel emulsions and bio-diesels). Vehicles using the new bulk fuel tanks installed at Birmingham and Bristol will be running on ´Bio-diesel´. A fuel management system, ´Merridale´, has been brought in, linking all current bulk fuel readings with external fuel card purchases so that a complete fuel management overview can be generated.
Other areas to be evaluated will be vehicle emission controls such as particulate traps and the specification of Euro 4 & 5 standard engines - when available. Further eco-friendly moves will include more effective route planning techniques and where possible, the consolidation of blood product runs to reduce mileage and minimise empty running. Targets for reductions in these areas will be set to measure the effectiveness when evaluations are being carried out.
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