The fleet consists of 45 vehicles, 31 cars, 12 vans, a van-mounted hydraulic platform and a road-towable platform. I took over the fleet management 14 years ago.

I left school in 1959 to join the RAF, training as an electronics engineer and leaving in 1973 to work with Thorn. I moved from a technical role, through sales, and then back to technical, becoming a regional service manager in 1989. In 1992, I was made redundant and took up my current position with Garndene.

It is probably the fastest changing of all industries. Environmental concerns are driving manufacturers to improve their engines and engine sizes are reducing, while power, emissions and economy are improving. A wide variety of safety features are now fitted as standard and there is an ever-increasing choice of vehicles and manufacturers – it wasn’t that long ago that all company vehicles seemed to be Fords.

The African Queen starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn.