BT Fleet Solutions has secured a five-year contract to provide fleet management services to Close Brothers Vehicle Hire, part of the merchant banking group Close Brothers Group.

This new partnership has been 14 months in the making, initiated by a request to consult on the supply of tyres for Close Brothers Vehicle Hire’s LCV and HGV fleets.

Having demonstrated “expertise and potential value” in the early exchanges, this soon became an invitation to also tender for a five-year contract to manage the fleet of the business’s 2,700 strong LCV fleet.

Close Brothers Vehicle Hire’s managing director Terry Ottey (pictured) said: “Our LCV fleet has grown rapidly over the last few years, almost doubling in size over a 30-month period.

"We’ve chosen to partner with BT Fleet Solutions based upon our belief in their ability to deliver against three key selection criteria: customer service delivery, innovation and positive commercial impact.

“We believe that BT Fleet Solutions understand our service delivery expectations and they will support our own in-house team to deliver a first-class service experience.”

BT Fleet Solutions will provide a white-labelled service to Close Brothers’ extensive range of customers. These services include a pro-active maintenance programme, responsive breakdown/recovery programme and administration.

BT Fleet Solutions’ managing director Henry Brace said: “Our unparalleled in-house garage network and focus on technology solutions will be instrumental to delivering the service quality, consistency and innovation Close Brothers Vehicle Hire require.

"Much bigger than this contract is the partnership we’re building with them which will bring further opportunities to work together.”

A number of factors led to BT Fleet Solutions being selected ahead of the competition, including alignment to Close Brothers’ vision on customer service delivery, innovation and positive commercial impact and its ability to offer Ford Warranty status.  

BT Fleet Solutions has also imbedded one of its team within the Close Brothers Vehicle Hire maintenance facility at Ilkeston to help foster a strong and integrated working relationship between the respective teams.