Fleet profile W


ith over 1,000 pure electric cars, vans and other commercial vehicles, facilities management company Mitie is believed to


have the UK’s largest fleet of zero-emission vehicles on the roads and has one of the country’s largest workforces with approximately 64,000 colleagues working across the business. A key focus for Mitie over the past few years has been decarbonisation services, where the company supports customers with decarbonising their operations and built environments and more generally helping them to reach their net zero goals. These services include heat pump installation, building living walls, solar PV and electric vehicle charge points installations.


As Group Fleet Manager since 2018, Heidi Thompson is responsible for delivering Mitie’s fleet strategy, running the day-to-day fleet operations, as well as working closely with the Quality, Health, Social and Environment (QHSE) and driver safety teams to ensure that the fleet remains fully compliant with safety regulations.


Thompson has been working for Mitie for 17 years, and throughout her time at the company, she has always worked within the fleet team, starting out in fleet by chance when she joined the company as an office junior straight after leaving secondary school.


“Through the years, I’ve gradually worked my way through a variety of different roles within the fleet business, including compliance, operations and safety. It’s been a long and rewarding journey and has given me a thorough understanding of the end-to-end challenges within the industry,” explains Thompson, who says time at Mitie as Group Fleet Manager has been a wonderful journey filled with different learnings and challenges.


She currently oversees a team of 14 colleagues who depend on her for a variety of things, from making challenging decisions quickly and decisively to providing training and best practice guidance for their personal learning and development. “No two days are ever the same, and I really relish the challenge of running a large-scale nationwide fleet operation,” she tells us.


Mitie offers a range of services to public and private sector organisations including cleaning, security, landscapes, waste management, engineering and of course, energy – essentially everything a business needs to keep its sites running.


“To put this into context, our colleagues are responsible for looking after train stations, airports, schools, universities, hospitals, shops,


and workplaces for some of Britain’s biggest brands, with millions of people passing through sites we look after each and every day,” says Thompson.


What that means for the company is a holistic focus on decarbonisation services, supporting customers with decarbonising their operations and built environments, and more generally helping them to reach their net zero goals. These services include heat pump installation, building living walls, solar PV and electric vehicle charge points installations. The somewhat large fleet managed by Thompson consists of 3,170 cars which are a mix of operational service cars – used every day to fulfil work roles – and company cars offered to eligible colleagues as part of a perks programme. The company offers a wide range of manufacturers on the fleet, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, and Tesla.


“We have one of the biggest fleets in the country and our colleagues are based all over the UK – from the Highlands and islands of Scotland, all the way down to Lands’ End,” Thompson tells us. “Because of this, we know we can play a key role in leading the way in electrifying road use across the UK.”


Putting EVs first


The fleet’s transition to EVs began back in December 2018 and since then Mitie has adopted an EV-first policy. “This means we will always deploy EVs where possible whilst we phase out petrol and diesel cars,” explains Thompson.


She explains that with such a wide range of electric models now available on the market, it has become easier for Mitie to offer electric alternatives that still meet colleagues’ requirements. “For any colleagues that can’t make the switch just yet, they are given one of the petrol or diesel cars that are already


Above: Heidi Thompson is overseeing what is believed to be the UK’s largest fleet of zero-emission vehicles.


Below: Mitie currently has more than 1,000 pure electric cars, vans and other commercial vehicles.


“The more companies that switch their fleets to electric, the more vehicle manufacturers


will invest in these models.”


www.businesscar.co.uk | August 2023 | 21


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