Gala Coral Group operates 1,600 licensed betting shops, 27 casinos and 145 bingo clubs in the UK, with a further 400 betting shops in Italy.

It has appointed Fleet Alliance to replace its incumbent leasing supplier, following an extensive selection process that involved a final shortlist of four leading fleet management and leasing companies.

The move is intended to make considerable efficiency savings over the next three years and a key change will be a switch away from solus supply contract hire to a competitive tendering approach for each new car on the fleet, using Fleet Alliance’s panel of six different funders, to identify the most cost-effective option.

This will help drive down sourcing costs which, along with other efficiencies, is expected to generate savings in the region of £300,000 over three years.

Fleet Alliance will also help Gala Coral Group continue its work on reducing the environmental impact of the company car fleet through measures such as a CO2 cap at 160g/km and accurate mileage measurement.

Currently, Gala Coral operates a two-badge car fleet with Ford and Toyota models, but from May this will switch to models from the Volkswagen Audi Group for the majority of its company car drivers, with Mercedes and BMW models also being available for senior managers. Directors will continue to have a free choice of vehicle. All new benchmark vehicles will have a CO2 level of 160g/km or less and drivers who want a hybrid option will continue to be able to select the Toyota Prius.

Drivers will be able to select and identify their next company car online through a new, specially designed web portal, a significant electronic development over the previous manual system.

Fleet Alliance will also be responsible for introducing licence checking for all drivers, for arranging driver training for those identified as high risk, for managing mileages across both the grey and company car fleets and for verifying that scheduled service and maintenance is carried out,  thus ensuring that the company’s duty of care responsibilities are being met.

Fleet Alliance managing director, Martin Brown, said: 'We are delighted to be working with Gala Coral Group for the next three years, and to be able to help identify and introduce increased efficiencies to the operation of both its company car and grey fleets.'