A WINNER from last year’s business awards is back for 2017 in a bid to expand its trophy shelf.

After taking the title of Socially Responsible Business of the Year in 2016, vehicle lease specialist Autohorn Fleet Services is vying to add to its awards collection this year.

The Leeman Road-based business, which has been trading for 22 years, is hoping to impress judges in the Large Business of the Year and Employer of the Year categories.

Separated into three divisions, covering contract hire, short term lease and daily rental through its Europcar York franchise, Autohorn has grown over the last four years from 200 vehicles to more than 1000 out with customers on a 28 day contract.

Due to the success of its Europcar franchise the fleet has increased to 1,500 vehicles, leading to a knock on affect for local businesses as Autohonr uses local garages, body repair shops and dealerships to service and repair its fleet, injecting more than £1.2 million into the local York economy.

Scott Jenkins, sales and operations director, said: “One of the issues many businesses face when they are growing is the impact on staff, systems and processes and Autohorn were no different.

“To help resolve this we inducted a new management team all of which were people currently employed at Autohorn.

“We offered a Management Development Programme via an outside training provider who over the course of eight days has given the team some of the skills and knowledge to help them.

“We have also grown our staff numbers to more than 70 people and again we decided to offer extra training through the University of York. We carried out training needs analysis with all staff to make sure we offered training that not only benefitted the company but the member of staff.”