Lombard Vehicle Management (LVM) is to supply more than 300 vans to Wakefield and District Housing over a three-year period. Wakefield District Housing is one of the largest social housing providers in the UK, with responsibility for around 32,000 homes.

LVM has put together a package which sees Wakefield’s fleet move from finance lease to contract hire. The finance is based on a three-year vehicle cycle but LVM has built in the option to extend the contract for a further year. Around 65 of the vehicles are being supplied on a sale-and-leaseback basis.

Deliveries have now begun. Over 100 will be delivered by the end of the year and the entire fleet will have been renewed by mid-2007. It will consist of Ford Transit and Connect vans and tippers.

Wakefield and District Housing’s director of operations Steve Rawson, said: 'As a young and growing company we are improving the operation of the fleet and we therefore need a degree of flexibility within the contract to allow us to adapt it to actual vehicle usage. LVM’s solution gives us both the flexibility and the management reporting necessary ensure that we have the most efficient fleet operation possible.'

LVM has a fleet of more than 22,000 vans.