GUESTS at the annual dinner of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association raised £20,000 for industry charity BEN.

Before taking their seats, the audience of about 900 people had brought in £9,000 as a percentage of the cost of their tickets went to the charity. In addition, nearly £4,000 was presented by two companies.

Hertz handed over £1,750 from a Christmas raffle it had run, while HSBC Vehicle Finance provided £2,000 after promising a donation from the sale of every end-of-contract car.

During the evening, a raffle was held with auctioneers from remarketing giants BCA and Manheim taking bids from the crowd and raising about £4,000 from the sale of two experience days.

The money will go towards supporting BEN’s charitable work in the motoring sector, including running four homes and helping about 15,000 people living in the community.

At the event, BVRLA chairman Brian Back presented his final review of the year before stepping down after a two-year tenure. He told delegates: ‘The past two years have been good for the BVRLA and that is a result of the commitment of the members in those committees and John Lewis, director general of the BVRLA and his team.’

Successes included dealing with distance selling regulations, working on insurance mediation and with changes in its approach to making the voice of the UK rental and leasing industry heard in Europe.