ALMOST 8,000 of Britain's top fleet managers and fleet decision makers attended the 1999 Fleet Show at the NEC, Birmingham, which ended its three-day run on Thursday last week. With the show's business-to-business focus resulting in there being no driving at this year's event, coupled with the move to a new venue, there was a virtual united view among exhibitors that 'quality counts'.

'Fantastic' was the verdict of Bristol-based BCH Vehicle Management chief executive Richard Pepper on Fleet Show 1999 as he became the first exhibitor to sign up to attend Fleet Show 2000. And the company was quickly followed by Stevenage-based FCS Computer Services in pledging its support for next year's event.

A total of 7,843 fleet chiefs attended this year's show and Keith Dalton, events director at EMAP Automotive, which organised the event, said: 'The focus on attracting quality fleet decision-makers to the Fleet Show and the move to the NEC was fully justified. The show continues to evolve and this was the next stage.

'We achieved our aim of ensuring that fleet decision-makers attended the show, while those people who were only interested in driving and had no fleet decision-making capability were excluded.'