I have a SQL table called "Customers". In it is a CustomerNumber field with values like "0001234567", i.e. they are made up of numbers only, but some include leading 0s. So, when I try to run something like

```
sqlFetch(channel=myconn, sqtable="Customers", stringsAsFactors=FALSE)

```

it returns my customers table where the CustomerNumber field is numeric (instead of character), and consequently I lose all those leading 0s.

Is there a way I can specify the fieldtype for a column or an alternative solution that won't truncate all my leading 0s?