YORKSHIRE Electricity has scrapped its in-house fleet management, resulting in several redundancies, in favour of outsourcing all fleet control. The electricity and gas supplier has placed the management of its 1,500-strong vehicle fleet with Lex Transfleet, which is using sister company Lex Vehicle Leasing to handle more than 1,000 cars on the fleet.

Until recently the fleet was under the in-house control of a transportation manager, fleet manager, administrator and several support staff. The majority of these took voluntary redundancy as a result of the department's shake-up. The decision to outsource the fleet was part of a cost-saving exercise hitting the entire Yorkshire Electricity business services division which also controls everything from the cleaners to the security staff. The majority of the division was outsourced.

The contract with Lex includes full maintenance and vehicle fleet management, vehicle and asset procurement, plus comprehensive fuel and accident management. Including cars, the contract has an annual turnover of £7 million and will run for two years, with a further three-year extension option.