Summer 2006

Mansfield District Council is said to be one of the first in the country to introduce advanced satellite tracking and resource management to provide a real-time location and monitoring system for individual street care vehicles.

It has chosen the Masternaut Web-based service, which users GPS to capture vehicle location and GPRS to transmit it back to base. On street cleaning vehicles, the system is linked to the on-board power take-off unit to record when the vehicle's sweeper unit is in use, and logs which streets have been swept automatically.

Mansfield's dedicated Street Care Services team deals with litter, detritus, fly tipping, graffiti, street washing and abandoned vehicles. It performs the council's statutory duties, and also provides an emergency call-out service.

David Hewes, parks and street care operations manager, says the tracking system has enabled him to respond to call-out requests more quickly.