A Shropshire truck driver for an award winning construction firm has revealed how he saved fuel after putting his driver CPC training into practice.

The day after attending the course at Telford driver trainers, TTC Automotive, Andy Addison decided to check out the recommendations on how to reduce fuel use.

He left home in Telford as usual at 5.30pm to drive the 75 miles to Denbigh in North Wales with heavy equipment on board his 55ft long, 44 ton vehicle.

Driving at a steady 50mph along dual carriageways, he arrived just five minutes later than usual but had used “much less” fuel.

“I had enjoyed the course and decided to test out what the instructor had said and it was correct. I arrived at the site only a short time after I normally would and I had saved quite a bit of fuel just by taking it easy and keeping at a steady speed,” said Andy (49).

He was one of three drivers from Shropshire’s Company of the Year, McPhillips (Wellington) Ltd, a civil engineering, design and construction company from Telford, attending the driver training course for professional drivers.

Driver David Coombes said many professional drivers in the UK had been against the compulsory course introduced by the EU.

“The course is very good. Everyone gets something out of it. We can all learn or re-learn skills,” he said.

TTC Automotive instructor Bob Smith delivered the course to Shropshire LGV drivers to give an all round understanding of every day regulations and how to identify and avoid pitfalls.

The course involves driver hours, tacographs, maintenance checks, loading goods and the law, safe workplace practices, safety controls, emergencies and optimising fuel consumption.

Professional drivers have to attend 35 hours of training in five years. For more information about Driver CPC courses visit www.ttcautomotive.co.uk