A Citroen and DS dealership in the North West has won a ‘Garage Star Award’ for “ensuring the highest level of safety for its customers” during the height of the coronavirus health pandemic.
Management and staff working at JC Halliday & Sons in Eglinton were also praised for donating a “significant amount” of Personal Protective Equipment to their local National Health Service Trust.
The family-run dealer was the one of eight from across the UK to secure an award, with these handed out by the Motor Ombudsman – the automotive dispute resolution body in this country.
Launched only last year, the Garage Star Awards recognise people and businesses in the car sales sector who “go the extra mile to provide an exceptional level of work and service to customers.”
This year nearly 1,100 nominations were received from motorists who gave an account of a business or individual, with these then whittled down to the final 11.
Bill Fennell, Chief Ombudsman and Managing Director of The Motor Ombudsman, said: “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.
“We would like to congratulate all individuals and businesses that were nominated, highly commended, and that won an award, and we are very proud that they are a part of our nationwide accredited network.
“Providing excellent customer service is one of the fundamentals of running a successful business, and the high standards required by our Codes of Practice reinforces the importance of this.
“It has been very encouraging to see all the inspirational accounts received from motorists amongst this year’s nominations, demonstrating the dedication and unrelenting efforts of businesses up and down the country to do all that they can to help keep motorists on the move in their time of need,” he added.
Garage Star Award winners
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.
