Vauxhall Commercial vehicles supplies nearly 3000 vans to British Telecom.

Vauxhall has supplied multinational telecommunications company British Telecoms with a fleet of 2,500 Vivaros and 330 Corsavans, both of which will be used by its engineers nationwide. As one of the preferred suppliers to BT Fleet, over the last decade, Vauxhall is proud to have supplied over 20,000 vehicles to the business.

Ensuring the Vivaro L1H1 2900 90PS vans are fit-for-purpose, a number of BT engineers were consulted by Vauxhall on how the racking in the back of the vans could be arranged for maximum efficiency.

As part of their engagement in this landmark fleet deal, the BT engineers were able to visit Vauxhall’s Luton Plant to see the Vivaro being made, and the plant also organised for the group to see the 500^th van from their order.

“It’s important that our engineers are driving the right van for them,” said Mike Langford, BT Fleet Senior Customer Relationship Manager. “Our vehicles need to be future-proof, reliable and user friendly, making the engineers who drive them the obvious people to help specify the vans.

“Getting to see how the Vivaros are made was great and we have had fantastic feedback from our engineers, who are all now firm advocates of the Vivaro!”

Mike added: “We had the previous Vivaro on our fleet for many years, and the new model makes absolute sense with outstanding whole life costs. The fact that it is built in Britain is an added bonus; it not only supports British jobs and industry but also provides a significant improvement in lead times and logistics.”

Richard Collier, National Commercial Vehicle and B2B Sales Manager, added: “We are delighted that BT has chosen Vauxhall to meet its medium van requirements. Vivaro offers outstanding practicality, economy and load-lugging capability, so I’m sure BT will be very pleased with its new fleet of Vauxhalls.”

British Telecom makes a huge order for Ford Commercial Vehicles.

A further 1,000 new Ford commercial vehicles have joined BT over the first three months of this year. More than 500 new Ford Transit Custom and 200 Ford Transit vans are among the order, with the balance made up of Ford Fiesta vans. Some will replace existing customer service engineer vehicles, while others will help meet expanding demand for BT’s products and services across the UK.

The order is part of one of the biggest fleet regenerations ever undertaken by BT, and follows a comprehensive review of its needs for the next seven years.

“We started by looking at all of our skill sets across the business and designing the safest and most ergonomic racking we could,” said Mike Langford, BT’s senior customer relationship manager. “We then looked at what vehicles were available which could accommodate what was required.

“After that we looked at a range of factors, including whole-life costs, safety, emissions, technology and aftersales. If we are keeping a van for seven years, we have to ask whether we will be able to get a spare part for that vehicle, at the right price, throughout its life.

“Our timescale was extremely tight as BT is a rapidly growing business and we needed to put 2,000 more customer service engineers on the road. Ford has kept to its commitment of delivering in volume and on time.”

The Ford Fiesta vans will be in service with engineers based at exchange buildings, with Ford Transit Custom used to carry the equipment required by customer service engineers. The Transits are long wheelbase, high-roof panel models and mark a shift away from chassis cabs previously used.

Vehicle conversion specialists Bri-Stor Systems and Bott are undertaking the interior alteration works on the BT vans.

Ian Watson, Ford’s manager of direct and municipal sales, added: “This is a major order and a tough one to fulfil in the timescale and Ford is delighted to have been able to meet BT’s requirements in terms of speed of delivery and quality of product.”