STAFF of United Utilities are putting themselves in the driving seat as part of national Road Safety Week.

An internal road risk forum has been set up in partnership with Lancashire County Council and Lancashire police and tomorrow United Utilities will host a road safety seminar at the Vertex Training and Conference Centre in Chorley.

The seminar is the first step towards a group policy on road risk which links in with the county council's Together We Can Make a Difference road safety strategy.

United Utilities companies, which include North West Water, Norweb, Vertex and Unifleet, have a fleet of 3,500 commercial vehicle and 1,500 company car drivers.

Unifleet will run theoretical and practical driving tests, issue leaflets on safe driving skills and look at ways of improving safety procedures.

Each year staff travel about 70 million miles on company business in the North West -- the equivalent of 140 trips to the moon and back.

United Utilities chief executive John Roberts said" "Employees travel millions of miles serving our customers each year and we want them to do that as safely as possible."