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Brewers raise a glass to tracker device
Parking campaigner Neil Herron is helping call time on traffic delays in London.
Neil's company, Parking Appeals Ltd, is working with City of Westminster Council to speed up deliveries to pubs in the council's area.
"Westminster Council is a forward-thinking council keen to work towards effective solutions for efficient kerbside management for the commercial sector," said Neil.
"We approached them with the idea of trialling new technology which could assist the brewers make deliveries more efficiently by reducing the kerb time and reduce their administrative burden for dealing with parking tickets by producing an exemption scheme for firms using the new technology.
"They agreed to a trial of the technology and we are working on the project with Tradeteam, who are part of DHL and deliver beer to many of London's pubs."
The firm's project came about after discussions with the Brewery Logistics Group, whose members deliver beer to pubs nationwide.
A major problem in London is the lack of kerb space and pub car parks, which means lorries often have to break the law in order to park close enough to cellar doors – clocking up more than 3million a year in parking tickets in the process.
Under the new Parking Appeals system, Westminster autonomically generates a temporary parking exemption near each pub when Tradeteam prepares its delivery routes, which is sent to parking attendants' handheld computers to ensure no ticket is issued.
The satellite tracking system even sends a message telling the cellarman to open the doors when the vehicle is within 50 metres, ensuring the delivery is completed as quickly as possible and reducing the impact on traffic flow.
Neil believes the technology has a huge range of potential applications.
"Once we have created the model it can then be expanded to other sectors of the freight transport industry and applied in other local authority areas," he said.
"There is a massive financial burden placed on firms who have to deliver to commercial premises.
"If we can work towards a technological solution, it will assist with improving traffic flow and help reduce carbon footprints and ease congestion."
The pilot scheme has been backed by North Star Equity Investors (NSEI) which has invested 60,000 in the project from its 12million Proof of Concept Fund.
Dr Phillip Tann invented the highly accurate GPS Tracker application on which the new scheme relies and is a partner in Parking Appeals Ltd.
"Our unique GPS tracking system, seen at www.fleetm8.com, is being used by many different fleets for many different purposes," he said.
"This new development will add value especially for those firms operating in the London area.
"We are really pleased that our North East-based company is being used to solve a London problem and anticipate a great deal of interest."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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