ACFO chairman John Pryor unanimously re-elected on to board

ACFO chairman John Pryor was one of three directors unanimously re-elected to the board of the fleet decision-makers' organisation at the company's AGM.

Pryor, Caroline Sandall and Denise Lane all stood down from the board by rotation and sought re-election. They were re-elected unopposed after no other members put themselves forward for election.

Pryor is fleet and travel manager at Arcadia Group and was first elected to the ACFO board in 2006. He has been ACFO chairman for the past four years.

Sandall, a director of ESE UK Consulting, was first elected to the ACFO board in 2012 and has been ACFO’s deputy chairman for the past five years.

Lane, is head of group fleet at Capita, and will serve a second term as a director. She was elected for the first time in 2015 having been co-opted on to the ACFO board in late 2014.

They will each serve on the board for a further three years and join Debbie Floyde, group fleet and risk and facilities manager at Bauer Media, Phil Redman, director of PLR Fleet Management, and Richard Baird, new business development director at Marshall Leasing, as ACFO directors.

Pryor said: “The pace of change we are witnessing across the fleet industry is unprecedented in my almost 30 years as a fleet manager so it is good that ACFO has board consistency in terms of fleet operator representation and significant practical experience to keep members advised, provide insight on the impact of taxation and legislation changes and stand-up for businesses operating company cars and vans."

Meanwhile, fleet operators responsible for almost 120,000 company cars - 97,402 petrol and diesel vehicles adn 19,521 plug-in models - have to date signed ACFO's online petition calling on the HMRC to publish advisory fuel rates for plug-in cars.

The petition was launched earlier this year as the organisation believes that the absence of defined mileage reimbursement rates for 100% electric vehicles, range extended electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid petrol and diesel models is a handicap to some organisations including plug-in vehicles on their company car choice lists.

Pryor said: “The government has this week published its ‘Road to Zero Strategy’ that puts a significant focus on encouraging demand for plug-in vehicles across the fleet and private sectors to reduce emissions and thus improve air quality.

“It is abundantly clear that the government is driving fleets along the plug-in road, but corporate take-up is not in the fast lane. One reason, ACFO believes, is due to their being no definitive mileage rate.

“ACFO intends to keep up the pressure and hopes that fleet decision-makers and the industry will support the petition. We will submit the petition to HMRC in early autumn in the hope that the government will make an announcement in this year’s November Budget that it will introduce advisory fuel rates for plug-in cars.”

The petition is available for signing on the ACFO website - www.acfo.org - and via its LinkedIn and Twitter channels.