Truck and Track Spring 2021

www.truckandtrack.com Spring 2021 Truck and Track 33 FUEL MANAGEMENT A leading South Devon-based coach hire company has credited Merridale’s fuel management system for its accuracy and ease of use when reflecting on their transition from a different system. Tally Ho!, who has been operating for nearly 100 years, offers day trips and holidays across the UK and Europe as well as serving local people by running bus and school services. As an integral part of the South Devon community, they have been responsible for the transport of many generations of families from their base in Kingsbridge and a depot near Ivybridge. With a fleet of 60 vehicles, ranging from workshop vans to 72-seater coaches as well as the Plymouth Argyle team bus, they have an annual average fuel usage of 280,000 litres. After having issues with an older system, they decided to upgrade to Merridale earlier this year. “We had an old system from another company which we would often have issues with. The MPG reports with that provider were extremely inaccurate, meaning every month somebody had to sit down and input ‘external purchases’, any fuel that was used while the pump was on free flow, and all the fuel used at our Lee Mill depot. After these figures were added, we had to manually enter these details into a spreadsheet to convert litres into gallons, miles into kilometres to get a true MPG figure” Martin Rutherford, Operations Manager for Tally Ho!, told us. As part of the upgrade, which included aMerridaleMX-I pump, Tally Ho! chose to use Merridale’s web-based software FuelWorks. “We needed something user friendly and web-based, as our previous systemwas set up on one computer only. We found this to be very restricting and time-consuming.” FuelWorks has become increasingly popular with Merridale’s current customers. With over 1400 sites already in the UK, each week more fleet operators switch to FuelWorks due to its ability to be accessed through a web browser on any device. FuelWorks gives the user complete flexibility and accessibility, eliminating the need for the software to be installed on a limited number of nominated devices. The software, which has been designed in-house byMerridale to be as user-friendly as possible, without sacrificing any functionality, allows multiple users to report on andmonitor their environmental impact, fuel usage, costs, and vehicle performance across multiple sites or tanks. It also has the capability to monitor tank levels and predict low stock, with email alerts being sent in such events. “We are very impressed with the MPG conversion, this used to take us hours to convert to get the correct figures but now it is done automatically and more importantly, it is done accurately.” Merridale also offers unrivalled levels of support and training, with initial training being available remotely, and a helpdesk on hand to offer ongoing support. “The instructions I received were step-by-step and idiot-proof! After dealing with our previous systems’ contact, Merridale are a complete breath of fresh air. As the main user of the software, integrating the use into my routine has been easy. It saves me so much time compared to our previous systemand, knowing I can rely on the accuracy of the data I pull from the software, other aspects of my job have been made simpler. We would 100% recommend Merridale, from the first contact to the installation and to the aftersales, they have been fantastic.” reiterated Martin. “The system has proved to be easy to use, it has been welcomed by our drivers and also our management team who now have instant up to date figures to work from. We are now looking at adding a second automated system to our Lee Mill depot.” Fleet operators who wish to upgrade existing Merridale equipment to use FuelWorks need not worry about replacing existing hardware to do so. Merridale can upgrade the majority of existing systems to make them compatible with FuelWorks, no matter how old the system is. To find out how aMerridale fuel management system could benefit your company, contact Merridale on 01902 350 700 or visit www. merridale.co.uk. Tally Ho!