The PRA has appointed Gordon Balmer as commercial director, reporting to the PRA chairman Brian Madderson, with effect from Monday 6th October.

The PRA chairman explained that Gordon would replace head of petrol Richard Chadderton, who moved to a role in Shell at the end of August.

The difference in title reflects a change in focus to a more commercially oriented role with Gordon negotiating deals with third party providers to provide PRA members with benefits in areas such as cash in transit, insurance and HR.

Gordon will also be working on marketing communications with a forthcoming re-launch of the e-newsletter and will provide advice on card payments.

Brian Madderson said: “Gordon has great experience in our industry having worked with BP Oil for 30 years in a number of sales and marketing roles that included UK cards manager and UK country manager for European fleet services.

“More recently he has been providing consultancy services on card payments and he has worked closely with PRA for 18 months. This has involved lobbying with both key government departments and leading industry players to ensure the optimum outcome to the EU capping proposal for interchange fees.”