Fleet profile
Fleet profile: Cole Pemberton, fleet manager, UK and Ireland, Hotpoint UK
Rachel Boagey speaks with Cole Pemberton about his leadership of Hotpoint UK’s fleet transition to electric vehicles, highlighting his focus on sustainability and efficiency.
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ole Pemberton has spent the last three years as fleet manager at Hotpoint UK, now part of the Beko Europe Group. Before stepping into this role, Pemberton managed a team of field-based service engineers across the south and south west of the UK as an area manager. Now, Pemberton’s role is pivotal in overseeing the company’s service vans and cars, which are integral to Hotpoint’s daily operations. Headquartered in Peterborough in the East of England, Hotpoint’s fleet management is a crucial aspect of its business.
Managing fleet the old-school way Pemberton’s approach to fleet management is notably hands-on. “We’re quite an old-school operation,” he says. Unlike companies where fleet management is handled by HR or procurement, Pemberton has comprehensive control over Hotpoint’s service vans and company cars. His responsibilities include coordinating vehicle procurement, renewals and reissues as well as procurement of racking systems and branding for service vans. By keeping costs lean, Pemberton’s team ensures efficiency – engineers fit
16 | November/December 2024 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
spare parts where possible themselves, minimising external body shop visits.
Small but mighty
Pemberton doesn’t do it all alone. He has a small but effective team, each member handling specific tasks to keep the fleet running smoothly. Louise, for example, manages company car issues. “Company car drivers can be notoriously emotional about their cars,” Pemberton jokes, “but Louise has the diplomacy to deal with those concerns, from fuel cards to tyre issues.” Fuel management is crucial, given that Hotpoint UK used £2.3 million of fuel last year. Louise also produces regular newsletters on important topics such as road safety and vehicle maintenance. His other team member, Callum, handles driver onboarding, ensuring new vehicles are entered into the fleet software and covered by insurance, while also managing accident notifications. While Carl, the onsite garage technician ensures vans are checked over ready for reissue and old vans stripped for return to the lease company at the end of their contract. “My job is to ensure that all of these moving parts work seamlessly together,”
Pemberton explains, “and develop a strategy for our transition to electric vehicles.”
Managing a complex fleet
Hotpoint’s fleet is diverse, encompassing more than 200 company cars for a variety of managers across the UK & Ireland as well as over 800 service vans, primarily medium-sized Ford Transits. Recently, Hotpoint made significant strides into electric vehicles, introducing 40 electric Transit vans and expanding to 66 fully electric cars and 130 hybrids with a further 30 electric vans due to arrive imminently. Pemberton’s efforts in this transition were pivotal, despite initial challenges in managing electrification without precedents in the company. “Our car drivers’ use cases are quite diverse,” Pemberton explains. “We have around 40 area managers who oversee engineer teams, as well as senior managers and directors – mostly office- based – with perk cars. At the operational level, there are many in sales who travel to meet vendors and retailers, ensuring our product placement is spot on.” In total, the fleet includes 130 job-need vehicles, with the rest comprised of managers, senior
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