Paul Ashton, managing director, Equalease, said: “The Pre Budget Report contains some interesting news for fleets, especially in terms of incentives to operate electric vehicles, but what it cannot predict is how quickly confidence will grow in industry as a whole and therefore the fleet sector.

"Entering 2010 will very much be a case of waiting and seeing whether we see the first few green shoots that we have emerged in recent months begin to bud or whether we will continue to be bogged down in economic mire.

"Confidence will have a much greater impact on the fleet sector in the next year than any measure that any Government could reasonably take.”