YORKSHIRE Water has agreed a £72 million supply deal with Vauxhall following a Europe-wide tender process.

Vauxhall beat 11 other manufacturers to win the deal with the FTSE 100 listed company. Up to 6,000 vehicles could be ordered during the life of the contract, which was signed on behalf of the Yorkshire Water Consortium, a buying consortium that currently includes three other companies: fleet management specialist The Freedom Group, the Waste Recycling Group and Morgan Est, a London-based mains laying/construction company.

As well as the Vauxhall range drivers will also have access to Saabs, which are also part of GM.

Yorkshire Water operates 700 company cars, most of them Vectra diesels, funded via a contract hire arrangement with Vauxhall Leasing. The other members of the Yorkshire Water Consortium may order vehicles from the new contract under the same terms and conditions to meet their individual requirements.

Yorkshire Water supply chain manager, Dennis Smith said: 'We will be ordering vehicles from right across the Vauxhall range, including the new Meriva and Signum, as well as a number of new Saabs.'

Yorkshire Water also has 650 vans up to 3.5 tonnes, all purchased outright and including about 300 LPG-powered Dualfuel Astra and Combo vans.

It estimates that running so many LPG-powered vehicles has saved it more than £500,000 in fuel and operating costs over the past five years, and now has bunkering for LPG at 10 sites throughout Yorkshire.