PUBLIC sector contract hire specialist Automotive Leasing has been awarded a five-year contract to supply 52 vehicles to Kettering Borough Council. The building maintenance vehicles include 31 Ford Transit vans, 11 Transit tippers, three Escort vans and seven Iveco Ford Turbo Daily tippers.

The council previously contract hired this section of its fleet from BRS and used a mixture of Leyland Daf and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Following a tendering process, it decided to move to Automotive Leasing and use Fords. The agreement follows a deal in January 1996 when the council appointed Automotive Leasing to supply refuse and sweeper vehicles for seven years.

Kettering Borough Council finance manager Steve Maxwell said: 'When we engaged in a tendering process, the aim was to obtain an efficient, cost-effective fleet to complement our existing refuse and sweeping vehicles. This has been achieved with the minimum disruption to services.'