Major players within the fleet industry have welcomed recent pledges to freeze fuel duty for the foreseeable future, whilst others have said it's not quite been enough.

In his recent Budgets and Autumn Statements, chancellor George Osborne has continually postponed fuel duty increases, with the most recent seeing September's proposed increase held off indefinitely. As a result of this, diesel prices have reached their lowest price in almost two years, hitting an average of 136.59 pence per litre. At their highest last year, prices reached 145.24 pence per litre.

These figures have provided positive news for fleet owners across Britain, although some have claimed Osborne could have done more. They argue that dropping future increases only maintained the status quo, whereas actual declines could offer British businesses real, tangible savings.

Among these was ACFO chairman Damian Jones, who told fleetnews.co.uk how he believed the chancellor really needed to cut fuel duty, not simply cancel a planned future tax increase, to give businesses a boost.

Jones wasn't alone in his view, as senior manager at Lex Autolease strategic fleet consultancy, Andrew Hogsden, echoed his claims.

He argued that reducing the "burden" of fuel duty would provide businesses with a "much-needed cashflow boost" as they look to capitalise on the growing economy.

Their calls came amid new findings reported by government-online.net which argued that fuel duty freezes could lead to spending on other services. As such, a cut in fuel duty may not bring about government losses but instead simply see the money shifted elsewhere.