Tyre specialists shortlisted across Garage Star Awards regions

Tyre specialists may not have been named as outright winners this year, but there was at least one tyre retailer named in most of the Motor Ombudsman’s regional Garage Star awards categories. Nearly 1,100 customers submitted a nomination for an individual team member or business accredited to one or more of The Motor Ombudsman’s four Motor Industry Codes of Practice, who they felt had gone above and beyond to assist them during the last 12 months.

The Garage (Whitburn) was chosen by the panel as the recipient of the overall 2021 National Garage Star Award after winning the Scottish regional trophy for the second year in a row. According to the Motor Ombudsman, it was a closely fought contest, with the judges reaching a consensus on the winners of the eight regional 2021 Garage Star Awards:

North: Westmoor MOT Centre in Newcastle Upon Tyne (Tyne and Wear), for going the extra mile to source a spare part for the customer’s electric vehicle, and for taking the time to keep the customer fully informed as to the work needed on their car;

South: Crown Honda Bushey Heath in Bushey (Hertfordshire), for the business carrying out a thorough diagnostic to identify the issue with the customer’s vehicle at short notice, whilst providing a caring and personal approach to reassure them of their safety when using the car;

East: Frettenham Service Station in Frettenham (Norfolk), for travelling to the customer’s location to change a flat tyre, due to them being unable to visit the garage in person;

West: Cadley Garage in Marlborough (Wiltshire), for putting in several hours of work until the problem with the customer’s vehicle was fixed, and for keeping costs to a minimum;

Midlands: Clarkes4Landys in Market Drayton (Shropshire), for helping a customer to source a replacement car at very short notice, enabling them to visit a family member before they passed away;

Northern Ireland: JC Halliday & Sons in Eglinton (Londonderry), for ensuring the highest level of safety for customers during the pandemic, and for donating a significant amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to their local NHS Trust;

Scotland: The Garage (Whitburn) in Whitburn (West Lothian), for their unrelenting commitment to providing customers with the highest level of customer service, for hosting vehicle maintenance classes for local motorists, and for their charitable work and support of the surrounding community;

Wales: FRF Toyota Haverfordwest in Haverfordwest (Pembrokeshire), for providing a consistently highly level of service on every occasion that the customer visited the business, which included clear communications from the time of booking through to when repairs were conducted.

25% of finalists were tyre centres

However, it is worth pointing out that six of the 24 finalists were tyre and fast-fit specialists. Specifically, Paul Hutchinson, manager at Protyre Southport (Southport, Merseyside) was nominated as a finalist in the North region; as well as Christchurch Tyres – Team Protyre (Christchurch, Dorset) in the South; Alex Paul Colk, manager at Thetford Tyre and Exhaust Centre – Team Protyre (Thetford, Norfolk) in the East; Bathwick Tyres – Team Protyre (Bideford, Devon), West; Eden Tyres & Servicing Swadlincote (Swadlincote, Derbyshire), Midlands; and Harris Brother – Team Protyre (Swansea, Glamorgan) in Wales.

Commenting on the news that Eden Tyres & Servicing were nominated as finalists in the Midlands regional category, Joanna Saxton, marketing and social media manager at Eden Tyres & Servicing summed up sentiments that are as true for tyre specialists as they are for garages in general: “I think the main benefit of awards like this is that they really do show just how much customer service standards have improved in garages.”

Ian Robertson, managing director of The Garage (Whitburn), said: “We are thrilled to be the recipient of not just one, but two trophies in the competition, and we are extremely honoured to have been crowned the National Garage Star. It is testimony to the hard work and philosophy of the entire team that they always look to go beyond the call of duty, and for the countless hours that they put in during their spare time to voluntarily help others and to carry out fantastic work in the community…”

Bill Fennell, Chief Ombudsman and Managing Director of The Motor Ombudsman, added: “Last year’s competition attracted significant interest amongst our accredited business network and their customers, and we are delighted to have built on this strong foundation, and to see the awards growing in stature year-on-year with even more nominations in the 2021 competition…”