13.02.01

Abbey National Treasury Services plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Sharon Goodman as Finance Director and Mr Chris Heaps and Mr David John as Non-Executive Directors of Porterbrook Leasing Company Limited and Porterbrook Maintenance Limited. Mr Heaps and Mr John are also members of the Porterbrook Safety Committee, which is chaired by Mr Heaps.

Ms Sharon Goodman was appointed Finance Director in January 2001. She is a Chartered Accountant with twelve years’ experience of working in the industry. Having spent a combined 8 years at Bass Plc and National Express Group Plc, Ms Goodman has a wide range of experience working within Head Office functions in listed companies.

Mr Chris Heaps is a qualified solicitor and was a partner in the London firm of Jaques & Lewis (now Eversheds) for twenty four years. He has a long interest in transport and is the Traffic Commissioner for the South Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Area. He is currently the chairman of the Railway Study Association and a member of the Railway Heritage Trust Advisory Committee. Mr Heaps was appointed to the Boards in September 2000.

Mr David John is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over thirty years' experience in Consultancy. He recently retired from WS Atkins, as London Divisional Manager for the Transport Planning Unit and is currently retained as a consultant. He has extensive experience in planning and design of infrastructure and transport projects throughout the UK and wide ranging overseas experience over a period of 7 years. Mr John was appointed to the Boards in June 2000.

Abbey National Treasury Services plc (ANTS) is the Wholesale Banking business of the Abbey National Group. ANTS has assets of £101 billion and is the Group’s second largest business in terms of profit. ANTS acquired Porterbrook Limited (Porterbrook) on 20 April 2000 from Stagecoach Holdings plc.

Porterbrook Leasing is a leading player in the UK rail leasing market. Porterbrook has a rolling stock fleet of about 3,885 vehicles on lease periods up to 2011, which includes about 3,200 passenger vehicles. These are supplied under operating leases to 19 of the 25 operating companies (TOCs) within the UK. The company also provides on-going train and tram maintenance services, most of which are outsourced. Porterbrook has been highly successful in winning new train orders since privatisation, with £800 million in new business won, since its acquisition by Stagecoach in 1996 – investing in over 1000 new vehicles and in the refurbishment of much of its in fleet equipment. Porterbrook Leasing is a subsidiary of Abbey National Treasury Services plc (ANTS).