M6toll boosts Culina Group efficiency drive

Culina Group UK, is a market leading logistics operator in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FCMG) and food retail market. It has a varied portfolio of sites across the UK for chilled and ambient storage of food and drink products as well as contract packing facilities.

Pip Bains, Culina Group Fleet Compliance Director, discusses how joining the ANPR trial is the latest beneficial boost to their operational efficiencies provided by the M6toll road.

Culina Group is looking to achieve further operational efficiencies as it becomes the latest company to trial the M6toll’s new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) tolling system.

The long standing M6toll customer has joined a growing list of logistics businesses to move their vehicle fleet onto pay by plate in recent months.

Time critical efficiencies are vital to the success of Culina Group operations and the seamless, end-to-end experience provided by the ANPR system will further boost operational gains already achieved by using the M6toll road.

Pip, based at Culina’s site in Magna Park, Lutterworth, said: “We have been using the M6toll as a Group since 2004 and we do so for the operational efficiencies it delivers to us as a business.

“It provides a reliable, well tested route that allows us to circumvent the M6, especially during peak traffic times, helping our fleet avoid costly delays and congestion and get to their destination on time.

“We are a time critical business, so joining the M6toll’s ANPR trial is a welcome opportunity to achieve further operational efficiencies on the road. The feedback from our drivers so far has been good and operationally we are seeing a lot of time saved since joining the ANPR trial.

“We began the trial with a large number of our fleet on TAGS. Since then, we have moved vehicles from our Culina Logistics fleet onto the ANPR system. This has been in a large part due to ease of the ANPR remote payment system, the time saving and the seamless, hassle-free driving experience it provides.”

With more than 5,000 vehicles on the road ensuring over 2.2 million deliveries meet the right location, the M6toll provides the most efficient connection from warehouse to packing and onto Culina Group’s customers.

For Culina Group’s fleet of drivers, the ANPR trial is the latest in a series of innovations introduced by Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL), owner and operator of the M6toll, that reinforce the Group’s decision to regularly use the road.

Pip adds: “Our long-standing commitment to using the M6toll is driven by the operational efficiencies it provides to us as a business.

“Those benefits include the minimal disruption compared to alternative routes on the M6toll patch, the incident free nature of the M6toll and most importantly, the overall efficiency it delivers across all our operations.

“The across-the-board operational efficiency is absolutely vital and is the most compelling reason I could give to another business for using the M6toll.This efficiency can only be further enhanced by ANPR and we look further forward to enjoying the benefits provided as the system rolls out fully in the future.”

The new ANPR system is part of M6toll’s ongoing commitment to encourage time and efficiency savings for business customers, including those running large scale fleet operations.

The contactless system cameras identify licence plate data, removing the need for card payments at the toll plazas and replacing them with a remote payment system. It enables seamless end to end journeys and means customers can manage all transactions via the M6toll website, whether for a single vehicle or larger fleets spread across a number of depots.