Telkom won the right on Friday to use the 6000 technician vans at the centre of its contractual dispute with Daimler Fleet Management. This victory came after Judge Bill Prinsloo disagreed with Daimler's interpretation of an agreement that the vans would be excluded from a three-month "lead-out phase" when the contract expired last month.Daimler attempted to interdict Telkom and its new service provider, Bidvest, from using the vehicles from April 1. The court set aside this request pending this week's judgment.Daimler's contract to run Telkom's vehicle fleet, which it held for 15 years, included managing e-toll accounts, training drivers and paying fines.Telkom is Daimler's main customer, and paid it about R66-million a month to manage the fleet. But last year it ditched Daimler for an apparently cheaper bid from Bidvest, in line with Telkom's cost-cutting drive.Daimler would abide by the ruling, spokeswoman Jeanette Clark said on Friday. "We will study the judgment and proceed accordingly."Telkom's Jacqui O'Sullivan said the company was pleased with the judgment as "this fleet addresses a key aspect of our business and our customer service".Daimler had argued in court that the terms of Telkom's contract excluded use of the vans during the handover.Prinsloo said : "It is common cause that Bidvest is not able to ... replace the ... 6000-strong fleet with effect from commencement."The judge also found no legal basis for Daimler to retain the vehicles during the handover phase. He mocked its argument, saying that, on Daimler's interpretation, "it seems one must accept a situation of Cinderella-like proportions - at the stroke of midnight all the vehicles would become unavailable to Telkom engineers".Daimler suggested that Telkom had failed to take steps to implement a reasonable handover timeously.However, counting against Daimler was the record of a meeting on January 15, at which Telkom and Bidvest were present, and Daimler's executive chairman undertook to provide Telkom with all the "services until such a time as a newly appointed service provider was able to do so".However, Daimler said in court papers that the meeting was held "without prejudice", and its chairman had used the word support instead of the word services.Telkom had also argued that Daimler had failed to show it would suffer irreparable harm if the vehicles were used during the lead-out phase.Prinsloo ordered Daimler to continue providing services and the vehicles during the handover, and to pay costs. Telkom must pay Daimler rates as set out in the agreement plus an increase in line with inflation...