HOW about this for following a path to sustainability? The MD of Cumbrian Seafoods did as he said: having told his workforce they should drive low emission VW Golf BlueMotion models, he chopped in his AudiA8 4.2 V8…for a Golf.
The introduction of the eco-friendly Golfs was one of the reasons Cumbrian Seafoods – a seafood processing business – took home the green gong for Best Private Sector Fleet under 250 Vehicles at last night’s Fleet Hero awards.
Cumbrian Seafoods nets green gong as MD ditches Audi A8 for BlueMotion Golf
Organised by the Energy Saving Trust, Fleet Heroes is designed to highlight companies making significant contributions to reducing CO2 emissions in the business car and company car sector.
This year it was held at the London Mayor’s place of work, City Hall, and very impressive it is, too, situated close to Tower Bridge on the South Bank of the Thames.
I attended last year’s event at the Transport Museum, Covent Garden. It was quite low-key. Not this year. There was a real hunger to win – and many companies came away disappointed: TomTom Work and Citroen to name a few.
Quite clearly, the environmental credentials bit has gone up a few notches.
But back to Cumbrian Seafoods and their 119g/km and 62.8mpg Mk5 Golf BlueMotions.
Afterwards I caught up with Cumbrian Seafoods’ Iain Lowrie, who collected the prize.
“We’re a private company that believes in ethical trading,” Iain related, “as well as environmental initiatives. We have a wind turbine on site that generates 25% of the company’s electricity, for example. Choosing low emission cars was part of this environmental policy. Which is when the MD traded in his A8 saying ‘what’s right for the staff is right for me’.”
Good to hear a boss leading by example.
