News - Page 2223

EUROPE'S biggest fleet - Motability - will present the first Motability Awards at a special gala dinner being hosted by the Fleet Show at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, on Tuesday April 27. Tickets for the opening night gala dinner are now available and the highlight of the evening will be the presentation of 10 Motability Awards to suppliers to the charity which operates a fleet of almost 400,000 vehicles.

PLACES are still available for the Fleet News-sponsored Association of Chief Police Officers fleet driver safety conference - 'Cutting the cost of commercial car collisions' - being held on Tuesday, April 13, at the Hendon Police College, North London.

FORD has announced almost 700 voluntary redundancies among its UK workforce - 625 hourly-paid employees and 55 salaried staff.

FLEETS face massive increases in contract hire and daily rental rates as suppliers fight to remain profitable amid warnings of a permanent collapse in residual values. Leasing and daily rental firms are 'staring down the barrel of a gun' and have been warned by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association to rethink their residual value predictions.

ROVER Group's return to the volume commercial vehicle market will be marked with the world debut of the Land Rover Freelander Van at the 1999 Fleet Show at the NEC, Birmingham, from April 27-29. While prices and specification have yet to be decided the new van will go on sale in the summer.

THE world's largest funeral services company, Service Corporation International, has signed a solus global deal for its 13,000-strong fleet with General Motors. The deal is worth $30 million a year, and covers cars in 20 countries from Singapore to Belgium, with the lion's share in the United States, Canada, Australia, France and the UK.

THE future of Rover's Longbridge plant has once more been thrown into doubt by BMW chairman Professor Joachim Milberg. He has warned that the longer negotiations take with the Government about the level of subsidies available to help modernise the plant, the more likely BMW is to shift production of new Rover cars overseas.

CITY of Edinburgh Council has officially launched a City Car Club in partnership with Budget Rent A Car to encourage residents to give up their private cars in favour of car pooling. The council claims that each car club vehicle has the potential to replace up to six other vehicles.

CHILLED prepared food manufacturer Geest has awarded a sale and leaseback contract for its 340-strong fleet to Lease Plan. The new arrangement builds upon successful relationships between the two companies in Belgium and the Netherlands.

THE Government Car and Despatch Agency is allowing a new marque on to its fleet for the first time in 20 years following a decision by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Two liquefied petroleum gas- fuelled Nissan Primeras are to expand the growing number of alternatively-fuelled vehicles on the 250-strong fleet.

FLEET managers face a financial 'lottery' when looking at the running costs of alternatively-fuelled vehicles. Ken Trinder, director of c.2K Automotive Solutions, has warned that a combination of five unpredictable areas are making running cost budgets for vehicles powered by liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas a financial 'minefield'.

DUMFRIES & Galloway Community Health NHS Trust has awarded a three-year, £3 million solus supply and leasing contract for its 250 cars to First National Vehicle Contracts. FNVC has been supplying the trust for 18 months, but had to win the contract in a competitive tender.

THE Government believes the introduction of road-user tolls throughout the UK will be welcomed by the business community, which is prepared to shoulder the additional cost for the benefit of reduced congestion and more reliable journey times. The clearest commitment so far from the Government to road tolls was given at the electronic tolling and congestion charging seminar, organised by the Institution of Electrical Engineers at its London headquarters.

KEEPING the public and business community fully informed of the benefits of road tolling is a prerequisite for the successful introduction of charge schemes. Speaker after speaker at an Institution of Electrical Engineers seminar on electronic road tolling and congestion pressed the importance of winning the hearts and minds of drivers, even down to the level of branding new bus shelters with road tolling information.

HYUNDAI has launched the £8,599 on-the-road Atoz Midas Special Edition featuring gold mica paint finish which is replicated on the body-coloured bumpers, side mouldings and tailgate handle.

AN all expenses paid trip to the British Grand Prix has been won by Wayne Beswick, of Manchester, who has been named Land Rover Technician of the Year.

EAST Midlands-based Allen Fleet Services, which counts Next, Triumph Corgi and Caterpillar among its clients, has launched its own brand fuel card in partnership with Overdrive which will undertake all 'back office' functions.

THE Westmorland-based Doctors Co-operative has taken delivery of two Honda C-RVs.

HYUNDAI Car (UK) and the Port of Tilbury are to develop a multi-million import centre creating at least 20 new jobs.

NORWICH-based MEVC has published its annual 28-page pocket-sized financial guide/mileage recorder following changes announced in last month's Budget.

THE fourth annual DuPont-sponsored charity triathlon for BEN, the motor industry benevolent fund, raised £2,484. Fourteen teams from across the motor industry took part - and Volvo took first place ahead of BMW and Chrysler.

SKODA has added a 68bhp 1.9-litre SDI diesel engine to its Octavia range.

MITSUBISHI has launched a series of special offers available to May 31.

RENAULT has released its latest price list, and with it comes a number of price rises, although in some cases there is effectively a price drop as the company absorbs the extra £5 cost of the Budget VED increase and keeps some on-the-road prices the same.

RENAULT and Nissan have agreed a global partnership to create the fourth biggest vehicle manufacturer in the world - but fleets are unlikely to see any effect for several years. The firms announced their global alliance agreement on Saturday before launching a series of management changes to find savings of about £2 billion.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott praised a new car-carrying train service launched at King's Cross on Monday saying it epitomised the aims of the Government's integrated transport white paper - but then admitted he would probably choose to fly rather than use it himself when on business. After a four-year absence from the UK, car transporters have been reintroduced to mainline railways by Motorail, which promises to take the stress out of long-distance driving and cut costs.

RENAULT is entering a period of consolidation in its fleet business after a period of dramatic growth as it appoints a new director of fleet and commercial vehicle business. On Monday Mike Power retires after five years in the post and will be succeeded by Keith Hawes, currently director of franchising and dealer development.

DRIVER training has the 'greatest potential for achieving safer roads', but to be effective it must be viewed as one element of a systematic risk management process. All those involved, from fleet decision-makers and government policy makers need to look beyond accident statistics if casualty rates are to be drastically cut.

FLEET managers are being urged to take action to stop tired drivers getting behind the wheel after it was revealed one person a day is killed through motorists falling asleep while driving. The wake-up call was made at the launch of the British Sleep Foundation, which is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of understanding the effects of sleep.

A NEW safe driving award has been launched by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to encourage company car drivers to take more care on the road. Research has shown that around a quarter of the deaths on the road are linked to vehicles being driven for work purposes.