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A leading fleet engineer claims that there has never been a more difficult time to work in the road transport industry. Dave Parkes, fleet engineer at PepsiCo, says that a combination of rising fuel prices and new legislation, such as the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ), has made business very difficult, particularly for smaller operators.

He adds: "I'm lucky in the sense that I have the resources of a big organisation behind me. "However, at the moment, particularly for smaller operators,  I think it's a really difficult climate, the most difficult ever. LEZs are yet another problem to deal with and more bureaucracy." PepsiCo International is the parent company of the Pepsi, Quaker, Tropicana and Walkers Snacks brands.

Parkes manages almost all the company's fleet carrying non-liquid products. The performance of individual drivers is scrutinised using a Btrack in-cab monitor. Parkes says: "The equip-ment can monitor time spent idling, as well as over-revving, but the point is to reward the top drivers and give extra support and training to those at the bottom.

"We find that the system has created healthy competition between the drivers and depots and there is often good-natured banter as to who has topped the table." PepsiCo runs a mixture of Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Daf trucks, but Parkes says that the company is not particularly loyal to any one make of vehicle. He adds: "I'm always open-minded as to the choice of manufacturer and fleet mix, but also  conscious that we don't put all our eggs in one basket. "One manufacturer may produce an excellent truck one year, but not the next."