The van fleet is composed exclusively of Ford Transit Connect and short- and long-wheelbase Transit vans.

Other vehicles on the fleet include 24 refrigerated commercial vehicles built on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis; Sprinter-based minibuses; 11 3.5-tonne Luton vans built on a Transit long-wheelbase chassis and 72 Ford Focus cars, including 38 ‘blue light’ units.

The ‘standard’ vehicles, including vans, operate over a three-year replacement cycle. The more bespoke vehicles are renewed every five years.

Post-production features fitted to light commercial vehicles include ply-lining and gel coating for easy cleaning, partitioning to separate blood and tissue products from clinical waste, livery and blue lights, refrigerators and sirens.

Vehicles are finance-leased through three suppliers – Automotive Leasing, Fraikin and Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle Services – via a Government-backed framework agreement.

Building a bespoke preventive maintenance regime

NHSBT has enjoyed a fleet management relationship with Fraikin since 2002 and the existing five-year contract continues until 2016.

“A robust vehicle maintenance regime is a key factor in keeping our vehicles safe, mobile and maximising their availability,” says Bannon, who has worked in fleet management for 35 years.

“Having preventive maintenance programmes that meet the needs of the operational use of the vehicles is essential.”

Bannon and his four-strong, Manchester-based fleet team created their own ‘content and interval’ vehicle maintenance regimes to maximise vehicle reliability and safety.

“Standard maintenance checklists don’t adequately capture all the additional equipment that our vehicles have.

"We therefore bespoked a standard maintenance checklist to meet the requirements of our specialist fleet to ensure that all items, such as light bars, fire extinguishers, livery and other features, are checked at specific intervals and that we don’t suffer from breakdowns,” he says.

“I believe that we have ensured that vehicle reliability is as good as it can be by undertaking checks at set time and mileage periods. We have a KPI of 95% vehicle availability at all times, and we continually exceed this target.”

NHSBT also has a KPI that monitors the integrity of the ‘content and interval’ principle in an attempt to ensure that no vehicle breaks down within seven days of a service or inspection.

The standard, says Bannon, was continually exceeded, with less than 1% of vehicles suffering a fault.

As well as winning the Fleet Van award, NHSBT also won the Cost Saving Initiative of the Year title in the 2012 Fleet News Awards for a radical new approach to reducing end-of-contract lease damage charges.

On winning the titles, Bannon says: “Awards are recognition of the professionalism of the NHSBT fleet team, the professionalism of the drivers and let our donors know that we are very conscious of the responsibility we owe them – that our vehicles should not be involved in any incidents that will invalidate the products being carried.

“We do get challenged by MPs, donors and members of the public on our record and it is fantastic to receive external recognition that shows we are operating a professionally run and very safe fleet.”