July/August 2020

F or businesses that have stayed open right through, there has been a lot to consider. Swanley Garage Services is based in Swanley in Kent. Owner and Top Technician 2020 semi-finalist Edward Grigg opted to stay open from the start of the lockdown. He told us their story: “When the lockdown occurred, the government released their statement, but it still was not clear what businesses were allowed to stay open. We all made the decision to come in the next day. The day after that, the government released the list of essential businesses, and garages were on there. So we thought, at least we’ve got the option. I did a lot of research into it, and a lot of thinking, and I must have changed my mind about four times, shall we close? Shall we open? Shall we close? We were seeking different advice, and we also did a customer survey, and they told us, particularly keyworkers, if we did not stay open, how would they use their cars to get to work if they break down?” In their case, the size of the building was a real boon: “We are lucky enough to have two industrial- sized units, so we did take the decision to keep two in each unit, so we have got four members of staff working, two in each unit, which obviously leaves plenty of space to social distance. “All of the technicians were given the choice to carry on working. We made the decision to do reduced hours, from 9am to 2pm, and they would receive 100% of their pay for doing that. They were quite happy in the measures that we took. We did all sorts of things, like taking internal doors off, and other things people would normally touch. Everything is contactless, we shut the reception down, and we diverted the calls to the receptionist’s house. We just felt that was one less person to come in and potentially spread it, or catch it. “We delivered the computer, and all the other stuff he needed to his house. We use the BT Cloud, so we diverted all the phones to his house, and everyone was quite happy to come in on full wages, for five hours a day. We are all in our 30s, so we don’t feel as at risk, maybe being in our age group.” Patterns On the changing pattern of work over the period, Edward observed: “The week they announced the lockdown, it was crazy busy. There was an influx of people trying to get their cars fixed. We probably had one of the best weeks we ever had. Then about a week later, they announced the MOT extension, and it was like they turned the tap off. The phones went completely silent and it was going back to day one of the garage when we first ever opened it. “I thought ‘this is really quite worrying’, but we will stick with it and see what happens. Slowly it picked up again. It was just day-to- day jobs coming in, breakdowns and stuff like that. I was looking in the diary thinking ‘I haven’t got anything tomorrow’, but jobs were appearing as we went along. We managed to keep busy for the five hours a day, which although is a reduced income for myself, it means we are managing to tick over and cover the bills. We were able to receive the £25,000 government grant, so hopefully we will be able to come out the other side.” The furlough was not an issue either: “I was lucky enough that I had a couple of people leave, just before this happened, and I was in the process of replacing them. I’d put out adverts, but when all this hit I thought ‘I better put the brakes on here. I’m not going to need anyone else for a while’. I think it will really pick up when the MOT extension ends. When they drop that, that will be the day.” Edward added: “Just on average, I would normally do just under 20 MOTs a day, and I am probably doing between six and 10 a day at the moment. Luckily for me, it was my MOT tester that left, just a week 8 AFTERMARKET JULY/AUGUST 2020 BIG ISSUE Right: Swanley Autos www.aftermarketonline.net CORONAVIRUS: WORKSHOP VIEW PART THREE Aftermarket’s ongoing examination of how garages around the UK are reacting to COVID-19 continues