New head of Transport Services for Kent and Essex

A single head of Transport Services for both Kent Police and Essex Police has been appointed.

John Gorton, head of Transport for Essex Police, will take over the running of both Transport Services departments, with the aim of creating a single operation serving both Essex Police and Kent Police.

Mr Gorton has been tasked with bringing Essex and Kent fleet departments together and driving service improvements, together with cost and efficiency savings for both forces.

"Both operations are already highly regarded and efficiently run," he says. "Bringing them together will provide opportunities for standardisation and consolidation. There is considerable talent at all levels within the departments and this is an ideal opportunity to deliver the very best from both.

"Whilst the challenges are not to be under-estimated, I am looking forward to working with this excellent joint team, which will deliver an outstanding service to the front-line policing of both forces."

Mr Gorton's first job is to develop the new structure for the senior management team and he has asked Susan Carte to continue managing Transport Services' day-to-day running in Kent for a short period until the new structure is in place.

Mr Gorton is also currently leading a collaborative mini-tender process on behalf of 18 police and fire authorities, for the procurement of vehicles and spare parts.

This collective approach, based on the National Association of Police Fleet Managers (NAPFM) framework agreement, is anticipated to provide further cost savings, driven by the economies of scale of a collective fleet of more than 10,000 vehicles.

Prior to joining Essex Police, Mr Gorton was head of fleet for the Metropolitan Police Service and, before that, held a similar position at the London Fire Brigade, where his career developed from his first role as an apprentice mechanic.