News - Page 2304

THE Inland Revenue has finally given up its protracted pursuit of Nissan UK's exiled former chairman Octav Botnar on the grounds of ill-health. The warrants were withdrawn from Worthing Magistrates' Court after a medical examination carried out last month revealed that 84-year-old Botnar had several life-threatening illnesses and was highly unlikely to survive a lengthy trial.

SCOTTISHPOWER is recruiting a new transport fleet manager for its Power Systems operation in Motherwell. The position has become vacant following the retirement of the transport fleet manager based at Manweb's office in Chester.

FLEET Cost Management has secured five major fleet deals covering almost 9,000 vehicles after a concerted assault on the large fleet sector. All the contracts involve fleets of 1,000 vehicles or more and FCM managing director Jeremy Snowden attributed the coups to the appeal of the fleet management specialist's comprehensive product portfolio and Select network of suppliers.

USED car information service Equifax HPI has postponed a preview of its new mileage registration system as the motor trade protests about the way it is being marketed. Equifax has received dozens of complaints from motor traders after it sent a letter to its subscriber list which assumed they wanted to subscribe and would be charged for access to the new National Mileage Register unless they ticked a box and returned the letter.

SANDERSON Bramall has grown by a third and swapped daily rental for contract hire in a major shake-up of its operations. The Harrogate-based group has simultaneously swallowed up smaller Yorkshire rival Charles Sidney and unloaded the majority of its stake in Thrifty Car Rental to the hire firm's management.

ABOUT 30% of employees are prepared to accept a lower value company car in return for more pay, according to a new survey by pay and benefits consultant Towers Perrin. Benefit programmes cost UK employers more than £50 billion a year, but they have little impact on recruiting, motivating or retaining employees, according to research among major companies representing 79,000 employees.

JUNIOR Transport Minister Glenda Jackson has underlined the Government's commitment to working with the motor industry to develop and promote less polluting vehicles. She was answering a parliamentary question on what plans the Government had to implement recommendations contained in the most recent report from the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in respect of Britain's funding for the European Commission's Car of Tomorrow project.

TRAFFIC congestion cost British business £1.8 billion in time, resources and lost appointments in the third quarter of 1997, according to new figures from Trafficmaster. And the Milton Keynes-based company has calculated that a staggering 6,663 working years or 38,380,000 man-hours were wasted in three months of jams across the country during July, August and September.

TRAFFIC cameras of the future will be able to help business travellers plan their journeys to avoid traffic congestion. Live pictures of traffic on the M5/M6 motorway junction were beamed from the RAC's Walsall Supercentre to this week's Autotech '97 exhibition at Birmingham's NEC.

AROUND 100 fleet managers and fleet decision-makers have booked to attend the 1997 Fleet News Roadshows next month. They will be held at Sopwell House, St Albans on December 2 and The Donington Thistle Hotel, East Midlands Airport on December 9.

BULL bars have been branded as 'killing accessories not fashion accessories' by an MP who has introduced a Bill in the House of Commons aimed at banning the feature from all vehicles. West Suffolk MP Richard Spring introduced his 10-minute rule Bill in the House almost a month after the Government announced it was consulting the motor industry on proposals which could see some bull bars banned.

BRS Car Auctions has denied renewed speculation that it is a takeover target for acquisitive auction group ICA/CMA despite closing one of its auction centres and losing its general manager. ICA/CMA was widely believed to be in the bidding for BRS when distribution group NFC sold its leasing subsidiary, BRS Car Lease, to GE Capital Fleet Services in an attempt to divest itself of non-core businesses.

VOLKSWAGEN is to stop taking orders for Passat saloons until it can clear a backlog of some 5,000 vehicles. The order bank will be frozen until well into the new year after next month's final dealer allocation is used up. Dealers will stop taking orders until customers can be given firmer build dates and details of when they can expect to take delivery of their vehicles.

THE motor industry has won its battle with the Government over alterations to the vehicle registration system with the new twice-yearly change due to come into effect on March 1, 1999. A joint Government and motor trade announcement on the plate changes and the new vehicle registration system to be introduced in 2001 when the existing letter-based system expires, is due to be made early in the new year.

FLEET remarketing specialist Cars Direct has defended its name after a fly-on-the-wall television documentary featured a Surrey-based car dealer of the same name. Northamptonshire-based Cars Direct said it was concerned that Channel 4's 'The Cutting Edge' programme highlighted the practices of some car dealers and alleged that Cars Direct was selling cars which had been clocked or had been involved in major accidents.

LOCATION is the key to garages' success in winning fleet servicing business. The 1997 Tolley Swan National Survey of Company Car Schemes has revealed that 45% of drivers use their local garage for servicing, prioritising the convenience of such arrangements above all.

TYRE manufacturers are looking to the European fleet market for future growth, where fleet customers are considered to be both high volume and high value. The fleet vehicle parc tends to be at the upper end of the car market, where wider, lower profile tyres offer high profit opportunities, according to a new report, European Car Tyres, from Marketline International.

FLEETS are wasting thousands of pounds each year on unnecessary windscreen replacements, when repairing the glass would be an equally viable and much cheaper option. Research by Dial has revealed that many fleets are paying about £170 to replace a lightly-damaged windscreen, when a £40 repair would suffice.

FIRST-time exhibitors have joined the growing list of companies which have confirmed they will be taking stands at next year's Fleet Motor Show. Well over 50 companies have already signed up to exhibit at the Donington event, which runs from May 11-14, and organiser Emap Automotive Events says many more bookings are in the pipeline.

PEUGEOT has launched an electric-powered version of its Partner van which is due to go on sale in early 1998. The Partner Electric uses the same battery technology as Peugeot's other electric vehicles, most notably the 14 electric 106s operating with fleets through the Coventry Electric Vehicle Project.

PEUGEOT has launched a factory-fitted bi-fuel 406 which runs on both unleaded petrol and liquified petroleum gas, giving a further boost to the alternative-fuelled vehicle bandwagon. Recent weeks have seen announcements from Ford and Vauxhall of their intentions to develop gas-powered cars, and the factory-produced Volvo bi-fuel S70 and V70 are already on sale.

BCC'S recently established light commercial vehicle leasing arm has won a three-year contract to supply 24 Ford Transit vans to vending machine specialist Provend Services. BCC's car division already supplies passenger cars to Provend, which operates a combined fleet of some 500 vehicles, but the van business was won after a competitive tender.

TESCO is having 50 panel vans converted to carry refrigerated goods for the first phase of its new Tesco Direct home delivery service. The service is being offered in selected areas and Refrigerated Vehicles (UK) Ltd (RVL) is in the process of converting the 50 Ford Transits, which will be used to deliver goods to customers who order their shopping over the telephone, fax or Internet.

THE motor industry has renewed its calls for the Government to introduce a scrappage allowance to remove old cars from Britain's roads. And, in calling for the move, the Institute of Car Fleet Management conference was told that residual values of younger ex-fleet cars would increase as a result and, therefore, wholelife costs would improve.

AN appeal has been launched for more blue chip companies and organisations with a training ethos to financially support the Institute of Car Fleet Management. Following the RAC's decision to 'put its money where its mouth is' and invest £50,000 over the next three years in the RAC Scholarship Award for fleet managers linked to the ICFM diploma, Institute of Car Fleet Management chairman Tom Madden has called for other companies to follow suit.

PERSONNEL departments and human resources directors must demand Institute of Car Fleet Management qualifications in recruiting staff to run their fleet. That was the plea from James Langley policy and support manager at PHH Vehicle Management Services, and an ICFM council member, ICFM diploma holder and ICFM Fellow.

VAUXHALL has cut prices of Corsa GLS, Sport and CDX models by up to £495. GLS versions, which have driver's side airbag, electric front windows, six-speaker radio/cassette and power steering, get a cut of £75 or £400 depending on the model.

A THREE-month fuel card trial involving 10 vehicles and their fleet drivers has resulted in Milk Marque introducing Overdrive fuel cards to its entire 120-strong fleet. The dairy farmers' co-operative which markets about half the milk produced in the UK, introduced the cards this month.

CAR-makers have been called upon to make more alternative-fuelled vehicles available to fleet operators in time for the next tranche of Government environmental subsidies. Chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust Dr Eoin Lees challenged the manufacturers to introduce more electric and gas-powered cars in time to qualify for next year's £20 million allocation of Government funding under the Powershift programme.

FLEET managers have been challenged to join the transport debate and tell the world about the excellence of the British fleet industry and not to bury their heads in the sand and offer tame excuses. To protect the fleet market, the fleet profession and jobs in the fleet industry, fleet chiefs must join the debate and make their voices heard by talking about the world-leading initiatives being taken.