A MANUFACTURER hoping to create a new industry in the region has won a key order.

Smiths Electric Vehicles (SEV), of Gateshead, is to supply a fleet of vehicles to John Lennon Airport, in Liverpool, in a £500,000 deal that includes a five-year maintenance contract.

It is the first time Smiths has secured a fleet contract at a regional airport. Roy Stanley, chief executive of Smiths' parent company the Tanfield Group, believes the airports sector may become his biggest customer.

"Airports are our target market," he said.

"This order gives us a reference point for potential customers who want to look at the vehicles in operation."

Airport operator BAA, which licences all airport apron vehicles, has already stipulated that vehicles purchased from January will be "zero emission".

Terminal Five, at Heathrow Airport, London, is being built on the understanding that it will only use zero emission vehicles.

Mr Stanley said: "At the moment, probably 99.9 per cent of apron vehicles are diesel, so this represents a really good opportunity for us."

The vehicles destined for Liverpool will be used on the airport apron. The first six will be delivered by June, with four more to follow by the end of the year.

They will be the first models produced by SEV using new motor technology provided by the Azure Dynamics Corporation, of Toronto.

On Monday, SEV announced it had signed a deal with Azure that would enable it to offer customers an electric vehicle with a better range and top speed than any other on the market.

Tanfield's engineering division, Tanfield Holdings, on the Tanfield Industrial Estate, near Stanley, County Durham, has also won a £1m contract to supply an industrial vehicle company in Peterlee, also County Durham, with tailgates.