FIRST National has launched a new fleet accident management division and has revealed it is considering rolling out some of its core services to the retail sector through its parent Abbey National, which has 15 million customers. Branded First National Accident Management, Derrick Perkiness heads up the new division.

He said: 'It will help to remove the need for car drivers and fleet managers to waste company time shouldering the administrative burden generated by accidents and damage to vehicles.' The accident management service is activated by a call from the driver to dedicated accident controllers. From there everything from retrieving the vehicle and arranging onward transportation to insurance claims handling is taken care of.

First National Accident Management is the latest in a series of new value-added services launched this year from the First National Group, the finance arm of Abbey National. Other services launched in the last six months include online vehicle purchasing operation First National Buy Direct and centralised rental service First National Vehicle Rentals, which have been established in the year since Abbey National's acquisition of Fleet Management Services, through its wholly-owned subsidiary First National Vehicle Holdings.