THE Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has pledged that fleet managers' voices will be heard at the heart of Government transport policy. The assurance followed fleet furore after the Association of Car Fleet Operators was barred from the Government's car seminar on November 29.

Transport Minister Lord Whitty apologised for excluding ACFO from the summit in a letter to Michael Mates, the constituency MP of Stewart Whyte, ACFO director. 'We had to keep attendance tight to allow for full discussion and exchange of ideas,' said Whitty. But he insisted that the DETR now wants 'to widen the debate to take into account the views of all those with an interest'.

In particular, Whitty expressed his hope that ACFO would work closely with the Motorists' Forum set up by the Commission for Integrated Transport. 'We hope that the Forum will become the voice of the responsible motorist, developing a consensus about the role of the car into the new millennium. 'I am sure that it will want to consider carefully the role of the fleet operator and would welcome any representations that ACFO would want to make,' he said.

Whitty also paid tribute to the role that Whyte and ACFO already play in Government thinking, with Whyte appointed as a consultant on the Greener Fleet Certification Scheme.