Video introduction from Fleet News editor-in-chief Stephen Briers

The July digital edition of Fleet News is now ready to read, once again packed with exclusive interviews, useful best practice and valuable insight to help companies run more efficient and effective fleet operations.

We have an exclusive interview with Paul Hollick and Stewart Lightbody of the new Association of Fleet Professionals, which was formed from the merger of ACFO and ICFM.

They tell us about their aspirations to give fleets a powerful voice with national and local government policymakers, how they want to boost professionalism of fleet decision-makers and why it is vital to make this sector a vocation of choice.

We put the spotlight on four fleet decision-makers including ABM’s Denise Hawkins who tells us how she is putting data to good use to save money and improve safety.

We continue our series of coronavirus and fleet interviews looking at how companies are adapting to the challenging conditions.

This issue we feature Simon Gray, head of fleet & travel at SSE, and Jan Kozlowski, operations director at ComCab London.

They also tell us about how they are emerging post lockdown and what they believe the longer-term implications might be for transport and travel.

We continue this theme in the Tomorrow’s Fleet section, looking at how coronavirus is affecting various mobility solutions following dramatic reductions in public transport use.

We talk to deputy leader Tom Hayes about Oxford City Council’s plans to become the UK’s first emissions-free city as part of a far-reaching strategy to improve air quality and reduce carbon.

The lessons the council is learning will be shared with cities across the UK, so fleets need to keep up-to-date with these policies so they can plan ahead to remain compliant and minimise impact on their operations.

In our fourth fleet interview, Kent and Essex Police head of transport John Gorton talks through the transformational affect telematics has had on efficiency, vehicle availability, repair and maintenance scheduling, and overall costs.

Five years ago, Fleet News published its Fleet Industry Manifesto with BVRLA and ACFO which included a call for the Government to launch a feasibility study into a national road-pricing scheme.

Find out inside this issue why many environmental groups and industry experts believe that now is the perfect time for Government to overhaul the current tax regime.

Audi is embarking on a major launch of new product this year and into 2021, as head of fleet James Buxton tells us.

Conversations are now being dominated by hybrid and electric, with strong orders for the e-tron and e-tron 50, and Audi remains confident of becoming CO2-neutral by 2030.

We’ve plenty for van and truck operators in Commercial Fleet including an investigation into HVO fuels to find out whether they really are as good as exponents claim.

Meanwhile the FTA – which this month gets rebranded as Logistics UK - provides us with the answers to some of your most pressing questions.

And there’s loads more packed into this edition, including interviews with Stewart Whyte, who celebrates 50 years in fleet this year; Fleet News Awards winners Johnsons Fleet Services and Fleet Service GB; Iveco global president Thomas Hilse; and Sixt global sales director Stuart Donnelly who tells us about his company’s new subscriptions service for fleets.

Next month’s issue will be our last digital-only magazine; from September we will be back in print, although you can still receive the magazine in the digital format if you prefer.

Enjoy the read and stay safe everyone!