THE John Lewis Partnership has entered into a three-year agreement with Citroen to supply about half its fleet for the 26 John Lewis and 135 Waitrose stores nationwide.

John Lewis has a fleet of 700 cars, 400 vans and about 1,200 larger commercial vehicles. The rest of the fleet is made up of Vauxhall Vectras, Astras, and Zafiras. The company will take delivery of HDi-powered Citroen C5s, and Xsara and Xsara Picasso HDi cars, alongside Dispatch and Berlingo vans. All vehicles bought in the agreement will come from Citroen dealer Eric White Group of South Ascot.

David O'Gorman, John Lewis Partnership's head of transport said: 'Experience gained by this company over 10 years has shown that Citroen cars deliver the wholelife costs we require.While we're committed to an environmentally friendly policy, it has to also make sense financially.'

He reported the firm had just sold two of its dual-fuel cars after about three years' service. A Citroen Xantia and Volvo V70 with after-sale conversions sold for 116% and 123% of CAP 'clean'.