Case Study: Whitbread
Hospitality and leisure firm Whitbread runs 600 company cars and has reduced the number of cash alternatives it offers.
The company has two fleet systems, a car benefit scheme for status and perk drivers, and the company car scheme for business drivers.
Nigel Trotman, business relationship manager, believes retaining company cars allows the company to better meet its duty of care obligations. "We've changed our policy for the majority of drivers. Now they don't get the cash allowance any more, they get a new car more often. There's a trade off there."
Trotman says the firm has no truck with excess mileage from drivers powered by employer-paid fuel, with only a small number of senior staff opting for the benefit. "When they've done the figures they don't stack up so they haven't bothered. We calculate carbon dioxide usage and people are doing less miles per annum anyway because we're giving them the technology to work from home or out of hours."
