BCH Vehicle Management has joined the OASIS smart card-based electronic trading system and urged the rest of the leasing industry to follow suit. The Bristol-based fleet management company follows Lease Plan in signing up to OASIS, which went live earlier this year after extensive trials, and will bring the total number of smart cards in circulation to 55,000.

Currently operating around 11,000 vehicles, BCH announced ambitious expansion plans following a management buyout last December. The company wants to double its fleet size within three years without significantly increasing the 135-strong workforce. Chairman and managing director Richard Pepper said automation of customer service procedures through leading edge information technology was central to this plan, but added that the rest of the industry was slow on the uptake.