?

The Tanfield Group PLC

("Tanfield", or "the Company")

24 June 2009

Tanfield Named as Preferred Supplier in Government Electric Van Programme

Tanfield is pleased to announce that it will be part of the UK Government's Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme ("LCVPP"), administered by the Department for Transport ("DfT").

The LCVPP will provide subsidies for select public sector bodies to procure electric and low carbon vans. 

Tanfield, a key supplier of the electric vans included in this project will supply the Smith Edison, a vehicle already in production at Tanfield's Washington production facility, which is based on the popular Ford Transit panel van. 

The DfT will provide grant funding towards the procurement of the vehicles, covering the incremental cost of the low carbon option compared with a conventional vehicle.  

The first phase of the LCVPP will see a total of four suppliers deliver a maximum of 150 electric vans to 12 public sector bodies, including the Royal Mail, HMRC, Government Car & Despatch Agency, Metropolitan Police, Environment Agency, Transport for London and six consortia of local authorities.

The DfT is collating the requirements of the participating end users and will shortly inform each supplier of the number of vehicles it will be producing for phase one.

If the first phase of the programme is successful, the DfT will look at the opportunity to expand the trials into the wider public sector.

Darren Kell, CEO of Tanfield, said: "This programme gives us the opportunity to strengthen existing customer relationships and expand our end user base.

"We will be working hard to ensure that this first phase is a success, so that the DfT rolls out a wider subsidy programme to the public sector as a whole."

Tanfield will provide an update on the LCVPP phase one vehicle production orders as soon as these are formally notified.

For further information:

The Tanfield Group Plc               +44 (0)845 1557 755

Darren Kell, CEO 

Charles Brooks, FD 

Arbuthnot Securities                   +44(0)20 7012 2000

Nomad and Broker 

James Steel/ Katie Shelton