Opening

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Fleet Professionals.

A special welcome to those attending their first AGM. Whether you run a fleet of ten vans or ten thousand cars, whether you sit in fleet, HR, procurement or finance, this is your association, and this meeting is where you hold us to account.

When ACFO and the ICFM came together in 2020 to form the AFP, the ambition was simple: one strong, independent voice for the people who actually run the UK’s business vehicles. Six years on, I want to use the next few minutes to show you how far that ambition has travelled this year, where we still have work to do, and what we are asking of you next.

A year of growth

Let me start with the headline: the AFP has never been bigger, busier or better attended.

We came into this year on the back of 28% membership growth in 2025, and that momentum has held, with now over 2,000 members. One of our stated aims for 2026 was to reach further into smaller fleets, and I’m delighted that FleetCheck has just funded 50 bursary memberships, awarded before the end of the year, to operators who would otherwise not be able to join. My thanks to Peter Golding and his team, and a warm welcome to FleetCheck as a Platinum member.

Our events tell the same story. In May, our Annual Conference at the British Motor Museum was our largest yet, with more than 300 delegates, and an agenda that you set by telling us what you wanted covered. Just three weeks ago, we returned to Gaydon for the AFP Expo, again with over 300 registrations and more than 60 FSP members exhibiting. Our round tables on data, procurement and AI were exactly what an AFP event should be: fleet managers learning from fleet managers.

None of this happens without our partners. Ayvens renewed as our Platinum sponsor for 2026 and headlined the Expo, and Holman hosted our members’ dinner the night before. Thank you both and all of our supporters in 2026.

Being the voice of fleet

If there is one issue that has defined our year in Westminster, it is eVED, the Government’s planned pay-per-mile duty on electric vehicles from April 2028.

Let me be clear about our position. We understand that the Treasury will need to replace fuel duty as the parc electrifies. What we object to is a tax designed around the individual private motorist and then applied, almost as an afterthought, to the complex world of company cars, pool vehicles and vans. Introduced on the current timetable, it risks damaging new and used EV values, raising operating costs and slowing the transition just as fleets are doing the heavy lifting on it.

That is why, in June, we published the fourth edition of the AFP Fleet Manifesto, our first since the 2024 General Election, with the eVED campaign at the top of it. My thanks to Dale Eynon, our government affairs and policy lead, who brought his experience as Defra’s former fleet director to that work.

The Manifesto goes well beyond eVED. It calls for simpler fleet taxation, a public charging network that works for commercial operations, more support for electric vans and a healthy used EV market. It welcomes the Road Safety Strategy and renews our support for a dedicated fleet apprenticeship. And it records real progress on earlier asks, which is the best evidence I can offer that when this association speaks with one voice, government listens.

Practical value, every day

Lobbying matters, but membership has to pay off on a wet Tuesday in the depot too. Three examples from this year.

First, shared charging. Not having home charging is probably the single biggest blocker to EV adoption for fleets. The AFP shared charging network, run with our partner Evata, lets operators open up their own chargers to other fleets: the host earns more from its kit, the user gets cheaper, more certain charging. In little more than a year it has reached ultra-rapid coverage in 15 of London’s 33 boroughs, with the potential to scale to some 11,000 sites nationally. If you have chargers sitting idle overnight, please talk to us.

Second, vehicle faults. Many of you have been told by a manufacturer that your problem is a one-off, when it plainly isn’t. Handbrakes, tyres, sensor software, alarms, traction batteries: our megafleets committee has heard it all. By pooling experiences through AFP channels, members are now going back to OEMs with evidence that an issue is common across many fleets, and getting better outcomes. Some members have moved business to the manufacturers that respond well. That is the collective power of this association in action.

Third, AFP Fleet Intelligence, which matches organisations needing fleet expertise with experienced operator members. It has seen strong take-up since launch, and it does something important: it positions the AFP not just as a support body, but as a source of the knowledge this industry runs on.

People and skills

Vehicles change; what makes a fleet run well is still people. That is why the AFP Fleet Academy sits at the heart of what we do.

The Academy came into this year off the back of record training numbers, and in May we celebrated another cohort at our Academy Awards. Our pathway now runs from Introductory through Foundation and Strategic to Advanced, and the Advanced programme has just been completely reshaped around the issues facing fleet directors and department heads right now. Those who complete it become Fellows of the AFP. We have also launched our new LMS, which current and future members will be able to enjoy, including logging CPD time. My thanks to Ronnie Gillman, Martin Evans and the training/ admin team.

We also have a responsibility to the next generation. Few young people grow up wanting to be a fleet manager, largely because they have never heard of the job. In June, we launched a work experience toolkit to make it easy for any member to host a placement. I’d ask every fleet in this room to consider offering one in the year ahead. It is one of the simplest things we can do for the long-term health of our profession.

Looking ahead

So what comes next? Four priorities for the year ahead.

1. eVED. We will keep making the case, with the BVRLA and others, for a fairer design and a realistic timetable. Expect us to ask for your data and your stories, because evidence from real fleets is what moves the Treasury.
2. AI and data. The question isn’t whether AI will replace fleet professionals, but how it makes them more effective. Fleets aren’t short of data; it’s scattered across too many systems. We will help members build the AI literacy to turn that data into proactive decisions, because those who don’t may be left behind.
3. New technology on the road. Autonomous vehicles are being trialled in the UK for commercial use and are arriving faster than many expect. Alongside that, we will keep pressing manufacturers for vehicles that are fully developed and properly supported, because fleets should not be anyone’s beta testers.
4. Reach. More small fleets, more van operators, and now more international fleets through the new working group chaired by Julie Summerell, which will also build links with our counterparts across Europe and beyond. The revised FMFE will also support our international growth.

Thanks and close

Before we turn to the formal business, some thanks.

To my fellow board directors, thank you for giving your time so generously alongside your demanding day jobs. To our staff and training team, thank you for keeping the association running day in, day out. To our Platinum and business members, thank you for the support that makes so much of this work possible. I would also like to thank our retiring Board member, Chris Joyce, for his support, guidance and extensive network. Being an AFP Fleet trainer is more demanding than it may appear, and Chris has excelled in that role as well as on the Board. He will be greatly missed. My sincere thanks to Matt Hammond for his dedication, support and insight. Matt has been the driving force behind the AFP Expo and has added enormous value to the AFP behind the scenes. Thank you, Matt. You will be missed as Deputy Chair, and I am very pleased that you will continue to serve on the Board.

And above all, to you, our members. Every issue we raise with a manufacturer, every submission to government, every course we design starts with something one of you told us. The AFP is only ever as strong as the members who share their experience with each other.

The next year will bring new taxes, new technology and new pressure on budgets. I’m confident that, together, we are better placed to meet it than at any point since this association was founded.