City announces a sweet deal to make Quality savings down the street

The council’s fleet of gritters and refuse trucks will be taken for MOTs at confectionery giant Nestlé’s workshop, saving £5,000 a year, the local authority has announced.

It will mean that all council vehicles over 7.5-tonnes including gritters, waste and refuse trucks will have their annual MOT carried out in its York workshop.

Coun David Levene, the council’s cabinet member for environmental services, said: “Only the best is good enough for City of York Council and every little penny we can save by joining forces with local based businesses is benefiting York residents by building on next years round of budget savings.”

Nestlé fleet manager Graham Lyon said: “The on-site facility has saved 10,000 road miles and 11,000 litres of fuel per year and an annual 30K saving in labour costs making good environmental sense, and reduces maintenance costs.”

Nestlé became the first vehicle workshop in North Yorkshire to become an authorised testing facility in March 2011.

The council services all authority-owned vehicles under 7.5-tonnes and entered into a deal with North Yorkshire Police in May last year to maintain their commercial vehicles.

The local authority expects to hear about its funding grant from Government next month and is braced for further cuts of at least £9m in 2013-14 and £12m in 2014-15.

They will make a total of £63m of savings in five years.