* MAG Foundation sponsors Diesel Spills stickers, promoted with 'blue light' services in the North East

30/10/10              Motorists Urged Not to Overfill

Northumbria Police is supporting a region wide scheme to prevent diesel spillages on our roads. Spillages caused by over-filled fuel tanks on vehicles lead to slippery road surfaces and potentially fatal consequences. The North East Motorcycle Action Group is raising awareness of the dangers of over-filling your fuel tank. The group is issuing distinctive yellow stickers carrying the message "Diesel spills kill, don't over-fill" which motorists are urged to display on or near to their fuel cap.

Northumbria Police is supporting the scheme by placing the stickers on the inside of fuel caps on the police fleet of cars and vans, reminding officers to take extra care when filling up. Other police forces and emergency services have also backed the scheme. The force's Fleet Manager Keith Wilson said: "Diesel spillages can be avoided by motorists if they don’t  overfill their vehicles and make sure the fuel cap is secure at all times."Slippery road surfaces are a danger for motorcyclists as well as other road users and this campaign is raising awareness of an important issue."

The North East Motorcycle Action Group's Kitson Warrener said: "Diesel is potentially a killer on our roads and is a major factor in motorbike accidents and fatalities. We are working with the emergency services to reduce the amount of diesel spilled from tanks so that when accidents occur; spillages don't lead to more fatalities."

30/10/10              Fire Brigade Supports MAG To Highlight The Problem Of Diesel Spillages

Cleveland Fire Brigade is endorsing a region wide scheme which aims to improve motorcyclists' safety by cutting the amount of diesel in vehicle tanks. The Brigade, which operates a fleet of vehicles, met with members of the NE Motorcycle Action Group to hear their petition to think more sparingly when topping up the fleet with diesel. A delegation of bikers met with Brigade staff when the popped into HQ in Hartlepool earlier this week (TUES) with delegates keen to point out the dangers of overfilling tanks.

Kitson Warenner, of the NE MAG, said:"Diesel is potentially a killer on our roads and is a major factor in motorbike accidents and fatalities. We are working with the emergency services to reduce the amount of diesel spilled from tanks so that when accidents occur; spillages don't lead to more fatalities."
"We're delighted that Cleveland Fire Brigade have taken the time to meet us today." Gordon Goodison, who runs "Learn and Live" Road Safety for the Brigade said: "Cleveland Fire Brigade has attended over 30 fuel spills this year, each of which has the potential to cause serious injury or death to motorcyclists.""We wholeheartedly endorse NE MAG's initiative, and urge any driver to take care when filling vehicles to prevent overfilling, and to ensure that fuel caps are properly replaced." Motorcyclists make up 1% of road users, but are involved in 14% of Road Traffic Collisions. This shows the vulnerability of the riders and pillions.

Summer 2010 Freightliner have agreed to put ‘Diesel Spills Kill’ stickers onto all of their vehicles – nationwide!

Back in the summer, while working on the Motorcycle Action Group’s stand at a BikeSafe event in Birmingham, I got talking to a gentleman about the MAG Foundation’s campaign ‘Diesel Spills Kill – don’t overfill’. This chap turned out to be John Payne, a Health & Safety Rep as well as a HGV Driver for the international road and rail haulage company Freightliner. John also rides a Harley and is fully aware of the effects that diesel spillages can have on powered two wheelers. I gave John a handful of stickers and he promised to speak with his manager to see if he would be happy for the stickers to be applied to all of the vehicles at their Birmingham depot. In the meanwhile we stayed in touch by email, so I could gain progress reports.

Since then Freightliner have agreed to put ‘Diesel Spills Kill’ stickers onto all of their vehicles – nationwide! Freightliner has a fleet of approximately 150 vehicles, operating out of nine terminals around the UK. The busiest terminals are based in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, though they have a terminal as far North as Coatbridge (near Glasgow) and as far South as Southampton. Freightliner operates from rail or sea terminals so the trucks tend to deal with local deliveries, specifically within a 50 mile radius of the depots. For that reason, their vehicles are mainly operating on ‘urban’ roads as opposed to motorways. As we all know ‘urban’ roads tend to have plenty of roundabouts, which is obviously one of the key areas where spilled diesel can prove to be so catastrophic to motorcyclists.

At Freightliner they take Driver Training very seriously indeed, especially when it comes to reducing accidents and protecting the environment. All of their drivers have refresher training every six months; the message that ‘Diesel Spills Kill’ and Freightliner’s support of the MAG Foundation safety campaign will now feature very strongly in their driver training and regular driver assessments. Not only that, they have agreed to place ‘Diesel Spills Kill’ stickers on all of their vehicles, on the cab and just above the fuel filler cap, to re-iterate this very important message. The stickers will also be displayed on all of their ‘internal movement’ vehicles that also run on diesel.

By displaying the MAG Foundation ‘Diesel Spills Kill’ stickers, Freightliner are showing their strong commitment to this campaign - the only other stickers that are on their road fleet are the vehicle licence, tax disc and the name of their lease company. Drivers are not permitted to put their own stickers on vehicles. Freightliner are also publishing an article in their ‘in-house’ magazine that is distributed to their 1800 employees nationwide, promoting the message that they are supporting the campaign. This will obviously highlight this issue to private use drivers of diesel vehicles as well as the commercial drivers.

This is huge progress to make with a national freight company and we are grateful to John Payne at Freightliner. We would also like to thank Richard Branston the General Manager of Road Operations, Philippa Brooks who is Head of Communications and John Hanson, Lead Driver & Training Assessor (Birmingham), for their hard work in setting this initiative in motion.

Louisa Smith, Deputy General Secretary, MAG UK