Council introduces pool cars to stop staff claiming expenses

The vehicles, four Ford Fiestas, three Hyundai i30s and two Nissan Leafs have been provided by Enterprise Rent-A-Car and are set to save the council an estimated £100,000 a year.

The two Nissan Leafs cars are fully electric and produce no emissions at source.

Previously, many council staff had used their own cars for work business and then reclaimed mileage costs.

All district council staff are now required to use the new rental vehicles rather than their own cars for work journeys.

Councillor Sir Beville Stanier, cabinet member for environment and health said: “It is important that the council leads from the front to demonstrate what can be done to reduce our impact on the environment.

“We are committed to finding more environmentally sustainable ways of doing business and daily business travel is part of that.

“Our new car pool scheme will help cut down emissions of carbon dioxide and reduce costs of staff travel.

“We also now have better control over employee journeys and can monitor where vehicles are.”