VEHICLE maintenance and fleet management company Freedom Transport Services has struck a deal worth £2 million with Ipswich Borough Council. Freedom will handle the five-year contract for the management and maintenance of the council's 100-vehicles, including 60 Ford Transits.

Rodney Cook, general manager of Ipswich Borough Contracts, said: 'In the past they were maintained on an agency agreement by Suffolk Coastal District Council but as they did not have a depot in Ipswich this required a lot of travelling and was not very efficient.'