ATS has told Fleet News that the 80 centres under review (Fleet News September 10) will close at the start of October.

The tyre service provider says that all are smaller, unprofitable outlets that will be folded into other ATS centres – it does not anticipate exiting any of its market territories.

Peter Fairlie, ATS group sales director, described the restructure as a “key moment” in the development of ATS, as it puts increasing emphasis on its mobile van network.

“We have no plans to sell any of these centres as a going concern,” he said. “We intend to retain the customer accounts through the new centres and through our mobile fleet.”

Around 300 staff are affected, some of whom will be re-employed within the remaining 370 outlets.

The network restructure has also involved merging the heavy vehicle and light vehicle centres together. Centre investment over the next three months will top £1 million.

The business has been divided into three operations, each accounting for a round one-third of the network: retail, comprehensive (regional fleet business) and large truck/van fleet business. Each will have dedicated area managers.

ATS has increased its mobile fleet by 25% over the past couple of months, to 130 vans at a cost of £850,000. All are geared up to handle cars. It also has 200 dual purpose vans covering both cars and light commercials.

“We are seeing an increase in demand for mobile services. It minimises disruption for fleets,” said Fairlie.

“The network review is a key moment in the development of ATS and how we will work in the future with our mobile network combined to the centre network.”

Mobile accounts for around 25% of car volume now; with the additional vans it is expected to rise to 30%.

The company is investing in diagnostics equipment as it considers a move into servicing. A network roll-out is planned later this year – all retail centres will offer servicing by the end of the year; the comprehensive network will be added during 2010.

ATS is also looking at payment card solutions and loyalty schemes. It is in talks with a number of existing card providers, such as fuel, with a view to linking up. A launch is likely in the first quarter of next year.