TrustFord has become the biggest occupier of Warwickshire’s Meon Vale Business Park after acquiring a further 5.5 acres to expand its Fleet and National Logistics Centre.

The Ford of Britain-owned AM100 retail group has signed a seven-year lease with site owner St. Modwen to extend its presence at the Long Marston facility which it first occupied in March 2014, when it signed a five-year lease to occupy a 10,000sq-ft warehouse and storage unit.

Stuart Foulds, chairman and chief executive at TrustFord, said: “This expansion of acreage in Warwickshire reflects our ongoing dedication and investment in our industry-leading fleet and national logistics centre. 

“The location is perfectly situated as our national hub for vehicle preparation and delivery.”

Several industry leading businesses now share the business park with TrustFord, including Unipart Logistics, Desire Tech Limited and Berkeley International Services Limited.

Meon Vale Business Park now comprises 900,000sq-ft of industrial and logistics space and offers access to the Midlands motorway network via J15 of the M40.

TrustFord was named as Fleet Dealer of the Year for the third successive time at the Fleet News Awards 2019 as judges recognised the investment made in its fleet operation and a determination to ensure it “stands out from other dealers”.

Fleet News said at the time that TrustFord’s award-winning service was headquartered at a specialist Fleet Distribution Centre in Long Marston which prepares over 30,000 vehicles of the 50,000 fleet vehicles managed by TrustFord’s Fleet and CV team every year.

It said: “The scale of the site reflects the importance of fleet capability to the TrustFord business.”

In May this year TrustFord opened a new 10-acre pre-delivery inspection (PDI) and vehicle preparation centre amid plans in to grow its fleet volumes to “50,000 to 60,000” during 2019.

The new facility, in Sherburn in Elmet, North Yorkshire, added capacity above and beyond that of its sprawling fleet facility at Long Marston.

Speaking to AM at The Commercial Vehicle Show 2019, TrustFord fleet and commercial vehicle director, Mark Wilkie, revealed that the site would expand to 20 acres in the next 12 to 18 months.

He said: “When we look back a few years it’s hard to imagine how we ever operated without the Long Marston site and now, with the volumes that we’re doing and our growth targets, this site was very much needed.

“Last year in fleet and CV we did 47,778 vehicles and the Sherburn site will allow us to grow that to over 1,000 vehicles a month this year, to somewhere in the region of 50,000 to 60,000.”

Speaking of the expansion of TrustFord’s Long Marston operation, Gemma Butler, asset manager at St. Modwen Industrial & Logistics, said: “Securing the additional space for TrustFord to expand its operations at Meon Vale has been a great way to end 2019.

“We have seen a lot of success at this site this year with several new businesses joining the scheme.

“The deal reaffirms our industrial and logistics strategy, illustrating clear market demand.”