Ref. 72711-61SWINDON firm MAN ERF is celebrating the biggest contract in its history and possibly the biggest of its type in Europe in the last 25 years.

It has been announced that the company, which employs 300 people in Blagrove, is the preferred bidder for supplying the armed forces with a fleet of 5,000 cargo and recovery trucks to replace ageing vehicles.

MAN ERF supplies transport to customers and organises financial solutions when large contracts are ordered.

Defence minister Adam Ingram said the contract would provide troops with "one of the most advanced support fleets in the world."

And MAN ERF is overjoyed with the news. A spokesman said: "We are delighted.

"We put together a team of 15 British small to medium enter-prises as sub contractors and 50 per cent of the order value will come from within the UK."

He confirmed that this contract was MAN's biggest by a consider-able distance.

The vehicles' chassis will be put together in Austria but virtually everything else will be done in the UK.

Swindon chief executive Des Evans said: "As important as the trucks themselves, we will be the support element of the contract.

"We have coined the word trucknology to encompass the technology in the MAN vehicles, and this will have a major impact on future employment.

"These advances in technology will generate significant training opportunities for young tech-nicians and support people to enter the truck industry.

"We believe the contract will create several hundreds of high-quality sustainable jobs at MAN ERF and among our UK sub contractor partners."

At the moment it is not clear how many jobs will be created from the contract, but the MAN spokesman said it would certainly safeguard employment at Blagrove, and lead to people being taken on here and across the country.

Trucknology describes developments in trucks used by drivers and mechanics to ensure things are running properly.

It includes computers that allow different parts of the truck to communicate, in a similar fashion to how the performance and condition of Formula One cars can be analysed by technicians in the pitlane.