A company specialising in vehicle hire has charted a course for expansion just weeks after opening a new depot in Huddersfield.
Northgate Vehicle Leasing established a 40-strong fleet when it opened its premises at Red Doles Lane, off Leeds Road at Deighton, and expects to increase the number to 70 over coming months.
In six months time, it hopes to have more than 100 cars, mini-buses, vans and trucks available.
The company is staging an official opening event at the site on Tuesday, July 2, when it expects to welcome representatives from hundreds of local businesses.
The site currently employs eight staff at the Huddersfield base, but expects to have up to 14 people – including drivers, mechanics, and other operational staff – by the end of the year.
Northgate has set up operations on a one-and-a-half acres site formerly occupied by its vehicle sales arm.
Operations manager Andrea Cowburn is joined by new business managers Tamara Nikitin and Paul Rodney while other staff include rental representatives Nicola Plumbly and Becky de Bemels.
Andrea said the new depot had already made contact with Huddersfield’s Young Engineers Academy – a not-for-profit social enterprise, which operates a commercial recycling business to help 16 to 24-year-olds gain new skills in manufacturing – as part of efforts to build links with local organisations.
She said: “Huddersfield was chosen for the new site because it was felt there was a gap in the market for light commercial vehicle rental.
“The perception is that we focus on short-term rental – one or two days. But we are also involved in long-term vehicle rental and 80% of our total fleet is liveried-up. We are also here to service the retail side of the market for people who need transport when they are moving house or need a mini-bus or people carrier.”
Business-to-business customers typically include building firms, civil engineers, couriers and delivery services as well as printing and packaging companies.
Tamara said a number of customers in construction were turning to Northgate to rapidly expand their fleet to handle an influx of business resulting from the Government’s Green Deal .
“They may suddenly find they need six, 10 or 15 vehicles, but they don’t have the money to buy or contract hire vehicles,” she said. “We can minimise the risk for companies.”
Darlington-based Northgate also has sites at Rochdale, Wakefield and Pudsey, but said the Huddersfield depot would serve customers in a 25-mile radius.
The company now has more than 60 sites UK-wide.
