Allen officially leaves the business on December 31 2012 and will spend the next eight weeks assisting the incumbent management team with the smooth transfer of his responsibilities.

The team will continue to manage the business as normal during the transition and further details about his replacement will be announced in the coming weeks.

ALD Automotive, owned by French banking giant Société Générale, has seen its a fleet size grow steadily over that time with a number of contract wins and a successful white labeling operation for a number of manufacturers. Earlier this year, it took over the running of Lombard’s contracts after the leasing firm was wound down by parent firm Royal Bank of Scotland.