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Created: 11 April 2016

Vauxhall's Vivaro Combi minibus has made the perfect vehicle for The Children's Trust charity.

The Children's Trust is the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury. They run a range of specialist care, education and therapy services for children and young people from across the UK, including the UK's largest rehabilitation centre for children with acquired brain injury (ABI).

Thanks to funding from The Presidents Club Charitable Trust, London and a conversion by Gowrings, the new minibus will be used to help provide stress-free transport to children receiving life altering rehabilitation. The Vauxhall Vivaro has removable second and third row bench seats which makes the vehicle easily adaptable as well as wheelchair accessible - the perfect choice for The Children's Trust.

The Vauxhall Vivaro was chosen based on a whole life cost analysis run by vehicle suppliers Lex Autolease in which Vauxhall's Vivaro vans were shown to be the most cost-effective models when compared against vehicles of the same size and function.

Children’s Trust transport manager Richard Fauvet has commented on the new vehicle saying, "We’re overjoyed to have this fantastic new minibus and we are extremely grateful to The Presidents Club Charitable Trust for their generous donation."

"When families arrive at The Children’s Trust, they have often spent months in hospital since the accident or illness that caused their child’s brain injury. Visits home, hospital appointments and outings are crucial to every child’s rehabilitation, so having new accessible vehicles to make this stress free is a big deal that makes a real difference to the children and families that come here."

James Taylor, Vauxhall’s fleet sales director also noted The Children's Trust's choice of vehicle commenting, "We are proud that The Children’s Trust chose the Vivaro to aid its vital work supporting children living with brain injuries and their families,"

"We work hard to provide our customers with the assistance they need throughout the vehicles’ life, beyond the initial delivery and including training and fleet servicing."

The Children's Trust needs to raise over £100,000 a year to run and maintain its transport service for children with brain injury. To donate £5 text CHILD to 70800.

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Created: 05 April 2016

The ACFO (The premier Organisation for Fleet Operators) will be holding a 'master class' designed to help reduce the number of unfit vans being driven on UK roads.

The seminar will be called "A Van for all Reasons" and is being held to help ensure that vehicles adhere to best practice and compliance. There are around 3.6 million vans on UK roads according to data from the Department of Transport, however figures published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) reveal that around half of large vans are failing their MOT at first submission - suggesting that many vehicles are unfit for being used on the road.


John Pryor ACFO chairman has commented, "Many of our members are predominantly car fleet operators, but also have a small number of vans."

"However, even if in charge of a large van fleet, there will be something to learn from a speaker line-up delivering a master class on operating best practice from vehicle selection and fitting out through in-life management and, critically, embracing legislative compliance."

Pryor also added, "The seminar will provide expert advice and information on everything a fleet operator needs to know when running vans."

Hosted by Mercedes-Benz and supported by in-vehicle equipment manufacturer and supplier Bott Group as well as vehicle leasing and fleet management company Lex Autolease, the event will take place at the De Vere Harben conference centre in Newport Pagnell and will be running from 9.30am until 2.45pm on Thursday 5th May.

For more information on the event visit the ACFO event page for 'ACFO Spring Seminar 2016 - A Van for all Reasons'

Photo © Emyr Jones via Flickr under creative commons licence.

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Created: 06 April 2016

Fiat have updated their popular Fiorino small van for 2016.



The 2016 model keeps its smaller compact dimensions making it perfect for driving in urban areas, navigating through traffic and securing hard-to-find city centre parking spaces.

Fans of the Fiorino need not worry as the updated vehicle retains its fantastic load capacity of up to 2.8m³ and payload capacity of up to 600kg. There are large rear doors that can be opened up to 180 degrees and an accessible sliding side door. Both the rear and side doors feature vertical handles that can be easily opened from any side as seen in the image below.

The new Fiorino offers a lineup of Euro 6 compliant engines; one 1.4-litre 73hp unit and two 1.3-litre MultiJet II turbodiesel; one at 79hp and the other punching out at 94hp.

Internally the Fiorino has also received a facelift with a restyled dash that offers better storage, you'll also find that the steering wheel has been redesigned and now comes with remote stereo controls and leather trim. Also being offered for the first time is a new five-inch colour, touchscreen infotainment system that comes fully equipped with Bluetooth, USB/AUX port, satellite navigation and DAB radio.

The new vehicle will be available for order in mid-April with the final specifications and pricing to be announced closer to the vehicle's release date.

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Created: 04 April 2016

PSA Peugeot Citroen have announced their latest Citroen Dispatch and Peugeot Expert commercial vehicles.

The two new mid-size vans are panel van versions of the Citroen Space Tourer and Peugeot Traveller MPVs. Both new vehicles are based on the PSA group's new 'Efficient Modular Platform 2 (EMP2).

Unveiled at a factory in Sevelnord, France the new Dispatch and Expert vans have a 1,400 kg payload, 2.5 tonne towing capacity and are available in three lengths which include a very tidy 4.6 meter version.

Citroen and Peugeot are stating that the new twinned vehicles will offer best-in class fuel consumption and CO2 emissions; a 1.6-litre BlueHDi 115 version is capable of 133g/km and 55.3mpg, from that the 1.6-litre BlueHDi engines can offer 95 and 115bhp. Also on offer are three 2.0-litre diesels that can offer up to 180bhp.

Tech and driver safety

The new vehicles have a few features that give some added creature comforts like a head-up display, 7-inch touchscreen with voice operated 3D Sat-Nav, Mirrorlink technology plus Apple CarPlay as an added bonus.

Driver safety is also of great importance with both new vehicles obtaining five-star Euro NCAP crash test ratings. A full suite of safety kit is also available on both ranges that includes: adaptive cruise control, a speed limiter, a lane departure warning system, driver attention alert, traffic sign recognition and an active safety brake.



Both new vehicles also feature clever hands-free sliding doors, that you open by moving your foot back and forth under the rear third-quarter of the vehicle. Also included is the 'Top Rear Vision' parking system which sends a 180-degree image of the area behind the van from a 'seen-from-above' field of vision.