In support of

"LADIES DAY" RETURNS!!

"Vehicle Awareness Day for Ladies
& New Drivers"

Friday 30th July 2010

Back by popular demand, I am once again closing my garage doors to normal business in order to offer my free vehicle awareness day, aimed at ladies and new drivers who want to have their car checked over and learn a little about their own vehicle, such as how to change the spare wheel, check tyre pressures and oil levels.

Our many female customers use MECA Services because they feel comfortable with the service and help they receive. I run my "Ladies Day" to ensure that our lady's and new/young drivers’ personal safety is not compromised.

Car checks take about 30-40 minutes each to complete and include condition of tyres, tyre pressures, lights, windscreen, washers and wipers, as well as oil and coolant levels.

During this free open day my boys and I will offer advice and demonstrations on the fundamentals of safety, including how to look after your car, what to carry in the boot and other basic things like how to check tyre pressures and change a tyre.

£1 a strip!

No seriously, a prize draw will take place at the end of the day with participants entering to win prizes such as a massage & manicure courtesy of Purity Skincare, a selection of wine, jewellery, and a 4x4 experience courtesy of West Country Land Rover Experience, near Honiton. Tel: Jennifer on 01392 447901 for your "£1 a strip" draw tickets! 


Everyone at the event will also receive a free gift bag!

Free refreshments will be provided throughout the day courtesy of local businesses Percolapps Coffee Shop & Fresha cafe



In association with

Work experience placement a success (despite my cluckiness)!

I’ve always wanted to start taking on apprentices, however, there are so many things to consider beforehand, such as insurance, health & safety, training, time, etc. etc. It’s a minefield out there especially when employing young ’uns!

I get calls and CVs sent to me all the time. Sadly, many of these are from trainee mechanics who have already started their apprenticeships and have lost their work placement due to the financial downturn, garage closure, and such like.

Sometimes I feel a bit like when I’m at the RSPCA rescue centre and want to take home every animal in the place! I want to respond to all those who have made an effort in contacting me and say “of course you can work here and finish off your apprenticeship!”

Alas I am not quite ready for an apprentice yet, although I hope to be in the near future. I have, however, completed the first stage in planning for this and have recently gained both Devon and Somerset County Council endorsement as an approved centre for their school’s work experience placements. We recently took on our first lad, Ashley, from St Peters School in Exeter. 

Ashley’s first day started off with a full induction of the garage including safety talks, staff introductions, and, most importantly, whether the drinks station is located and who takes what in their coffee! No seriously, in our industry health & safety is of utmost importance and the poor lad had to endure a thorough safety briefing by both myself and one of my mechanics.

I asked Ashley what paperwork he had brought with him and was promptly handed a dog-eared bit of paper regarding employer risk and liability. I was a it surprised that there wasn’t some sort of report for us to complete, and Ashley just had that “Look, never mind the paperwork, just hand me a spanner will you!” expression on his face when I mentioned this, so being a newbie to this myself I agreed to follow it up later with the school. I’ll come back to this in a mo.

I assigned Ashley to Mr Miller (or “old bloke” as we affectionately call him) for his day-to-day supervision, who is one of my mechanics who teaches young drivers during our vehicle health check day events. He’s really good with them; patient, attentive and thorough. Perhaps Mr Miller’s alternative vocation in life….well certainly through more recent years as he heads towards retirement…..should’ve been in teaching mechanics. Tough luck though as he’s mine, so hands off all you engineering colleges out there!

Whilst Ashley was with us we found a range of work for him to assist with, including standard servicing, brake replacement, and suspension repairs. I’d also arranged for him to visit and observe our other partner sites, including our MOT station and tyre centre.

In addition, I sprung a surprise visit on him to the Exeter fm radio station, who we sponsor. Ashley sat in the studio with their breakfast presenter, Nino Firetto, completely petrified in case he was suddenly put on air! As we left, I did catch him pointing and laughing (also known by teenagers as taking the pis...) at a newspaper clipping of Nino back in his Music Box and Splash! "mullet" days. Err...any way, thanks for looking after him Ni.

Ashley had the opportunity to work with all of our mechanics in order to experience different working methods and approaches to work tasks. We also discovered that he has a favourite tool. Once he got hold of our airgun (used for undoing wheel nuts etc.) there was no stopping him. I almost expected to pop my head out of my office (known by some as “Tweetdeck”) and see Ashley holding said airgun, doing a scene from 'Sleeping with the Enemy' - you know the one where the good guy’s out there watering his garden and starts dancing and singing the 'Jet Song' using the garden hose as a prop (mimicking West Side Story)!

Ashley’s last couple of days with us were a little busier than we’d planned. “Why’s that Jenn?” I here you ask. Well I’ll tell you. He suddenly produced this workbook that he was supposed to complete from day one, covering all the work he did, his thoughts, the elements of work he liked and disliked, how he thought he did, etc. etc. Arggghhhh……teenagers!! You’ve just gotta love ‘em though, after all, we were one once ourselves.

Anyway, out came the job cards from the previous fortnight and there Ashley sat with each of the mechanics he worked with, considering and assessing the work that they’d done together. My partner, Paul, then helped him complete the self assessment elements of his workbook, whilst I put together a folder of all and everything to do with my garage as there was a hint that he might have to complete an essay at some future point. Yes, I had become all maternal, clucking away as if my own son had just come home from school and I was helping him get his homework done!

Having taken the time to do some reflecting of my own, it was great to see my team embrace new, young enthusiasm as they have done with Ashley. Work experience placements and apprenticeships are extremely important and they should not be treated lightly by employers. They should be well planned, varied and interesting. They should be educational, positive and the employer should be fully committed to the placement being a success. Otherwise, it is industries such as ours who lose out as a whole.

On Ashley’s last day, when it was time for him to leave, he went round shaking hands with everyone and thanking them. I overheard him refer to Mr Miller as “old bloke”. Mr Dye, who Ashley particularly seemed to gel with, got a hug. I suddenly got all maternal again, and almost tearful too. We were sad to see him go. Ashley was a pleasure to have as part of ‘Team MECA’; he learnt quickly, listened carefully when he needed to, asked loads of questions, and he seemed genuinely interested in becoming a mechanic. His passing comment as he was leaving about coming back to see us and wanting to work at MECA lead me to conclude that it was a positive experience for all of us.