Lex Autolease has strengthened its commercial vehicle team with the addition of Gary Banister, who will take on the role of senior manager for commercial vehicle consultancy.

Banister joins Lex Autolease from Rentokil-Initial where he previously held the position of category director for fleet and fleet operations.

As part of the company’s new commercial vehicle offering, Banister will predominately be working on developing new business for the company in the LCV sector and provide support to commercial vehicle director, Marcus Puddy, across several of the UK’s largest fleet leasing company’s commercial vehicle projects.

Signalling its intent to the market, Lex Autolease’s new commercial vehicle offering is designed to provide a one-stop-shop for everything from basic contract hire through to highly complex vehicle conversions and consultancy.

Puddy said: “The appointment of Gary comes at an exciting time for the commercial vehicle team as we are in the process of making a number of positive changes to our LCV proposition.

“As the largest LCV fleet operator in the sector boasting one of the most respected consultancy and engineering teams in the business, we believe that our new commercial vehicle offering puts us in the ideal position to not only enhance our engineering capabilities, but gear up for sector growth.”

Lex Autolease currently has a total fleet size of approximately 280,000 vehicles, containing over 70,000 commercial vehicles. The company currently provides vehicle conversion services for more than 50% of its LCV customers.