Peugeot has agreed a deal to supply around 80 vans to the charity Guide Dogs.
It’s part of a programme that will see all the cars used by the charity to transport dogs and handlers being replaced by specially-adapted Peugeot vans by 2022.
So far, 40 Expert Long Professional vans have been delivered, 29 of which are panel vans converted to transport up to eight puppies at a time.
The remaining vans are crew vans designed to carry up to four dogs, as well as their professional guide dog mobility instructors during their training programme.
The vans have been converted by specialists James Alpe, and feature transportation cages equipped with both temperature monitoring and video cameras to ensure the wellbeing of the animals.
The vans are specced with optional tailgates instead of twin rear doors, to give shelter when the dogs leave and enter the cages, while the crew vans feature a folding rear seat to provide additional storage space or access to the dog cages from the front.
The vans will be joined on the fleet by 40 Partner crew cans later this year.
Guide Dogs’ operations support manager Karen Mumford said: “Dog welfare is paramount to Guide Dogs, so we are delighted that these vans will help us transport our life-changing dogs in comfort and safety, enabling us to reach more people with sight loss with our services.”
PSA Group fleet director Martin Gurney said: “The versatility of the Peugeot Expert range and crew van in particular is perfectly demonstrated by the vans we have delivered to Guide Dogs over the past few months.
“We are delighted to be extending our relationship with Guide Dogs and to help them develop the best means of transporting their trainers, service users and dogs safely and efficiently.”
