A CAR and van leasing firm has announced expansion plans in Crewe.

Despite being based in the town, the vast majority of Leasepoint’s customers are from outside the area, something owner Roger Whittaker is keen to address next year.

The company, which specialises in providing businesses and individuals with contract hire and vehicle leasing, is looking to add two new staff members to its seven-strong team.

Leasepoint, based at Macon Court in Herald Drive, provides vans for West Bromwich Albion FC’s retail operation, as well as for motorcycle giant Kawasaki and tyre manufacturer Yokohama.

Roger, 39, who lives in Audlem, said: “We’ve got customers dotted all around the UK but our plan for 2018 is to build relationships with local businesses.

“We have very few customers locally. We are proud to be Crewe based, we would love to support local businesses with car and van leasing, and we’ll be looking to recruit extra people next year to help with that.

“When we built the customer base up we did it through telemarketing and referrals. We have grown because of the great relationships we have with our customers and because we are very much service-orientated.

“Our mission is to help our customers run the right vehicles to suit their needs at the lowest possible cost in a market that is seeing lots of change with the expansion of the electric and Hybrid engine choice.”

Leasepoint has grown year on year and has doubled its business since 2015 which led to the company’s move from a site in Nantwich to a bigger base in Crewe.

Roger said: “We bought the office in Crewe in June 2016, had it fitted out and it’s been a great move for us.

“We’ve grown further since coming to Crewe, and we are excited for what 2018 brings.

“We’ve taken more people on and not only invested in the building but also in IT to help our scalability. We are ready to keep on growing.”

Roger decided to set up his own company in 2009 after working for 15 years in the fleet industry.

He said: “I felt I could provide a better service and we have been lucky enough to grow every year, despite some challenging economic times.

“We now have over 1200 vehicles out to customers, and by 2020 we are looking to reach 2000.”