“A few factors made us take this decision,” says Karolyi.

“Our business constantly changes to meet customer needs so mileages go up and down for various roles.

"ntroducing the allowance option not only gave employees more choice considering we offer one car in one colour, it also helped with costs if roles and entitlement changed for individuals.”

The current fleet strategy was written three years ago as part of a total policy overhaul which coincided with a re-tender for funding method and fleet management.

LeasePlan won the contract which saw Virgin Media switch from finance lease to contract hire after basing its calculations on wholelife costings.

The move to finance lease brought substantial savings and gave Karolyi greater visibility of fleet costs while removing the residual value risk.

The four-year contract with Leaseplan incorporates vehicle procurement, fleet management, maintenance and facilitating the different products and suppliers Karolyi partners.

“We have good third-party suppliers; when you hand pick them, they have to deliver,” says Karolyi.

“LeasePlan is a one-stop shop for us. We decide the supplier but LeasePlan will facilitate for us.”

Virgin Media has partnered Ford for 10 years and recently moved to a solus deal for both cars and vans.

Product range and environmental considerations, plus its strong relationship with Ford, were behind the decision to go sole supply.

The move has helped to improve fuel efficiency – the vans alone have reduced consumption by 5% simply by rolling out the Ford Eco pack.

The van fleet is predominantly Transit medium roof vehicles used by the engineers and 200 or so smaller Transit Connects for other divisions.

Operating cycles are five years/100,000 miles while the cars are replaced on a four-year/80,000-mile cycle.

Karolyi believes these replacement cycles strike the right balance between minimising costs and benefiting from technology development and she tries to avoid extending cycles where possible.

The contract with Leaseplan sees Virgin Media only pay for the actual business mileage travelled.

Karolyi has a quarterly mileage update and will make adjustments to the contract on an ongoing basis to reflect any deviations in mileage.

It has improved efficiencies and saved money.

The 1,300 employees who take cash are given a vehicle an age restriction of 10 years with no CO2 stipulation.

Karolyi believes it is a realistic achievement given the financial pressures working people are under.

Allstar fuel cards are used across the fleet. Karolyi has been investigating bunkering fuel, but has found that availability is a real issue.