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.

He told a recent ICFM conference that ICFM had three key objectives, with the remaining two being to ensure that fleet managers' line managers were aware of the importance of ICFM qualifications and gave time and support and that training modules were consistently updated to ensure modules reflected industry changes.

The Sedgwick Group, one of the world's leading insurance broking and financial services groups with a fleet of 1,500 vehicles, recently advertised in Fleet NewsNet for a fleet manager and called for 'ideally an ICFM member'. And while the company is not the first to specify such a person in a recruitment advert, the Institute believes it is a key step forward in its battle to raise both the profile of fleet managers and the origination within companies.