Ogilvie Fleet is planning to triple the size of its business in Northern Ireland with a £2.5 million investment that has already seen the creation of new jobs.

The vehicle leasing and fleet management company has to-date invested about £1m as a result of the opening of its business in the province in 2011 and the recent creation of three new jobs to almost double the workforce.

Ogilvie Fleet presently has almost 1,000 vehicles on its books in Northern Ireland and has a strategic objective to expand the business to 3,000 units over the coming years.

Jim Humphreys, who has worked in the leasing industry in Northern Ireland for many years, has been recruited as regional manager to lead the Ogilvie Fleet team in the province.

The team has been further boosted by the employment of Jonny Crooks as area manager and Joyce McFaul as customer service team leader, who also both have significant leasing industry experience in Northern Ireland.

The trio join Ogilvie Fleet's existing four-strong team of areas managers Mark McAllister and David McNeill, customer services executive Louise Henry and fleet administrator Joanne Bruce.

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Adopting the theme of local service from local people, Ogilvie Fleet sales and marketing director Nick Hardy said: "We want to become the number one vehicle leasing provider in Northern Ireland.

"We believe that is possible as a result of on-going investment, the availability to customers in the province of our multi award-winning product portfolio as well as innovative web-based solutions for fleet decision-makers and drivers and finally first-class customer service."

A combination of industry leading products, unique online tools, best-in-class customer service that has been recognised with a string of independent industry awards and client partnership transparency have all helped Ogilvie Fleet to build a UK-wide fleet approaching 11,000 company cars and vans.

Now the only UK-mainland headquartered contract hire and fleet management organisation with a business base in the province, Ogilvie Fleet's expansion means that it is looking to move from its current Dundonald premises.

Headquartered in Stirling, Ogilvie Fleet also has offices in Sheffield and Birmingham, and has defied the recent economic gloom to expand every year in the past decade. Research by industry publication Fleet News for its annual 'FN50' analysis of the UK contract hire and leasing industry reveals the company has increased its fleet size by almost 370% over the 10 years to the end 2012.

Mr Humphreys said: "In Northern Ireland our philosophy is 'local service from local people'. We are working with organisations running small, medium and large fleets across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

“We have customers with two or three cars and we are also working with clients that have more complex and diverse fleet requirements. Either way, Ogilvie Fleet can provide the value, the customer care and the choice that they’re looking for."

(CD)