“We differentiate ourselves by quality of service and the specification of vehicles and plant,” Harrison explains. “We try to satisfy needs internally although we do use some sourced plant and spot hire.”

Many of its contracts are on a ‘cost plus’ basis where Morrison shares the cost with the client.

Minimising downtime, therefore, is critical.

A 3.5-tonne van, full of equipment and towing a digger, with two or three staff costs upwards of £1,000 each day it is off the road. Service delivery is critical which rules out taking vehicles to dealers as a first choice for repairs.

Morrison has agreements with its manufacturer partners to carry out all repairs under warranty.

It is also a fully authorised repairer for Ford and Vauxhall. However, given the fact that its fleet is spread from Scotland to Cornwall, the company also has a number of arrangements with local suppliers to provide additional SMR support.

The fleet of 1,200 vans and 600 cars has been on contract hire for the past eight years.

The bulk is with Arval; some are with Lex Autolease.

Alphabet was added more recently which helps with benchmarking on service levels and lease rates.

Each provides funding only for the vans, on 48-month contracts; cars are fully outsourced with maintenance, typically on 42-month contracts.

Morrison used to operate four replacement cycle profiles for its cars depending on mileage. Now it operates one and uses mileage capture to monitor the data.

The contracted mileage is 105,000, although it can vary 5,000 miles each way and be picked up in the pool.

It offers the company greater flexibility although it tries not to go over 120,000 and will replace cars after two years if they are on very high mileage.

“We have a mileage pooling facility but if we have extremes then we will re-contract,” says Harrison. “We try to get it right at the start but we tend to be right on the cusp of our mileage pool.”

The company constantly re-evaluates its funding options and has previously outright purchased its vehicles. There are cases for and against contract hire, according to Morrison commercial manager Tony Raymond.

“The negatives include the cost of returning the vehicles,” he says. “Vans are a challenge in the way the BVRLA standards are applied.

"Our vehicles are toolboxes operating in high density areas. They will get dents and knocks.”

Morrison has sought to mitigate costs with a novel arrangement introduced last summer with a hire company.

Vehicles with enough knocks and scrapes to make them costly to de-fleet, but which have sufficient life left at the end of their four-year contract, are bought by the hire company instead of being de-fleeted by the leasing firm and remarketed.

Consequently, Morrison avoids being hit with a costly re-charge bill.

In return, it agrees to take the vehicle back on a short-time hire agreement which gives the hire company a sufficient return to cover its costs before it puts the vehicle through auction.

“It’s all about back end charges and unbudgeted costs,” Raymond adds. He expects to offload around 250 vans in this way this year.

Unusually for a business that operates trucks, vans and cars, the fleet team is responsible for managing every type of vehicle.

Its latest initiative on cars is to bring down average CO2 emissions. The fleet averages 130g/km now with the majority of cars Ford Econetics; the target is to get 85% below 120g/km.

Staff are encouraged to trade down and save tax, while downgrade incentives are about to be introduced at executive level.

They already have a 160g/km cap on their cars but the incentive is designed to encourage them into even more fuel efficient, lower CO2 models.

“Ninety per cent of our emissions are our vehicles. So our environmental policy is built around reducing CO2 emissions and reducing fuel consumption,” says Harrison.

It’s a policy which shows the true reach of Morrison’s fleet strategy, incorporating cost initiatives, the environment and, of course, health and safety.

But, as if to reinforce to Fleet News his main business priority, Harrison adds as a parting shot: “We’re about to become part of the Driving for Better Business Campaign. It’s all about the risk management for us.”