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PRESS RELEASE - Van sharing website saves 1.4 million miles of journeys
3rd December 2007 - for immediate release

A website that helps people send goods in vans and lorries that would otherwise be half full or empty has saved 1.4 million miles of journeys in the last year.

Freight Alerts www.freightalerts.co.uk was set up to take advantage of the 562,000 empty vans and lorries making journeys in the UK each day.

Now it is the UK’s fastest growing freight exchange website, used by more than 1,000 transport companies.

Founder David Hiscox said each journey saved is having a significant impact on the amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere.

He said: "If the UK can reduce the number of empty vehicles on the roads by just three per cent, we will save more than a million tonnes of CO2 every year.

"That’s the equivalent of the carbon produced by the entire population of a town the size of Blackburn."

Anyone can use Freight Alerts for any size delivery anywhere in the UK. Users range from private individuals sending furniture sold through eBay to business users sending lorry loads of commercial goods.

Couriers and truckers who are returning from jobs without a load pitch for the work.

They earn money on an otherwise wasted journey, and the sender gets transport with up to 70 per cent off normal rates.

The environmental impact of empty commercial vehicles on the UK’s roads is shocking.

Official estimates are that 25 per cent of lorries and 15 per cent of vans on the roads are completely empty.

That’s more than 112,000 lorries and 450,000 vans, releasing a staggering 36 million tonnes of CO2 each year.

David added: "Taking vehicles off the roads in this way is the quickest and most efficient way to be green.

"It also saves a lot of money. Giving work to vehicles that would otherwise be empty gives people huge savings. Everyone wins."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

• For any further information please contact David Hiscox on 0845 8900881, or 07882 516420. Or email david.hiscox@freightalerts.co.uk
• 25% of lorries are empty according to the Freight on Rail partnership: http://www.freightonrail.org.uk/PressRelease17-10-2007.htm
• 15% of vans are empty according to the Department of Transport: http://snipurl.com/1uf5x
• Based on annual mileage of 100,000, in one year a lorry releases 160 tonnes of CO2 and a van 40 tonnes of CO2
• The average UK person a has a carbon footprint of 9.4 tonnes: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/jan/24/ethicalliving.g2
• Click here for a PDF version of this article