THE AA announced at the Fleet Motor Show a five-year, multi-million pound investment programme to allow it to continue setting new industry standards and remain the trusted first choice for roadside. According to Graham Gill, director of Business Services: 'Up to £20 million will be spent this year alone to raise the standards of roadside service for all 9.3 million members, more than three million of whom are business members.

'The AA's fleet operator customers, which represent 57% of the market, are an important constituent of our membership. For them and their business drivers, a prime indicator of industry-leading service is the time it takes a patrol to arrive at the breakdown, said Gill.

'A £9.3 million investment in roadside services has resulted in an average time to arrival of close to 36 minutes, a figure we will improve on through a further £9.6 million investment, adding an extra 240 patrols to take our force to 3,800, twice as many as the nearest competitor.

'Investment will also be made in our other services for fleet operators, providing information (used car data check, vehicle inspections), advice (qualified driver training), protection (accident management, mechanical breakdown insurance, GAP, vehicle replacement insurance) and raising standards (technical training).'