Vehicle conversions completed during lockdown allow fleet renewal

Lex Autolease has delivered 45 new vehicles to Together Housing, after conversions were able to continue during lockdown.

Together Housing has been providing an emergency repairs service during lockdown, as well as continuing vital gas and electrical safety inspections across all of its properties.

Its new vehicles were ordered before the coronavirus outbreak started, and were partway through being converted, when lockdown came into force.

Despite the restrictions that were in place, a team from Lex Autolease worked with the vehicle converter and Together Housing to get the vehicles completed, before co-ordinating collection.

This involved a number of volunteers being transported by minibus to the converter’s site in Wakefield, all while adhering to the government’s social distancing guidelines.

The 45 new vehicles have bolstered Together Housing’s 400-strong fleet and will continue to attend customer call outs across the north of England when the outbreak is over.

Melanie Holmes, customer relationship manager at Lex Autolease, said: “It was essential for us to get these vehicles to Together Housing in a safe and responsible way, so they could get more staff on the road and attend emergency appointments.

“It was great to see so many people pull together, to achieve the right outcome, not just for Together Housing, but for its customers, too.”

Together Housing is a large housing association, managing more than 36,000 homes across the north of England and has worked with Lex Autolease for three years.

It provides homes to rent, builds and maintains homes for sale through the Shared Ownership scheme, provides sheltered accommodation and runs extra care (assisted living) schemes.