Tour blog 23

Tour blog 23

05 Nov 2008

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BEN charity trip embarks on its last-but-one day as it nears John O'Groats

Wednesday 5th November . . .

1:30pm - This blog is brought to you from a small road somewhere near the peaceful coastal town of Lossiemouth where we're staying after another adventure through Scotland's rural garages. Here's a quick look back at the morning's events.


Gilbert Christie at J&J Watt in Huntley
Gilbert is a busy man in this town-centre garage and is quite pleased about it. A few weeks ago he said business was unusally quiet but now, thanks to a cold snap, he's up to his elbows tackling numerous no-start jobs - and battery sales are going particularly well.

Either way, Gilbert is a busy man in his lone workshop in an area where cars are, I suspect, taken slightly less for granted than in the big cities.

Break down on some of the country roads out here in winter and you've got problems. Much better to actually get it checked over once in a while.

John Sherrin at Lumsden Garage in Lumsden
This garage is not just a repair station for cars, 4x4s and coaches. It's not even simply a motoring accessories centre with batteries, oil and consumables for sale. It's more even than a petrol station and coach hire company.

In fact, it's a fully-functioning village community centre. I've never seen litres of engine oil for sale next to a series of flower fairy birthday cards.

Visitors to this garage will be able to have their car and 52-seat coach MOT'd while also stocking up on cakes, sticky buns and luxury writing paper.

The fact that we've seen virtually no other shops during the half hour drive to get here probably explains why they've decided to combine being the local shop with being the local workshop too.

David MacDonald at Keith Garage in Keith
Kevin warned us before we got here that there were some road works going on. I can't imagine any of the local shops are happy about the situation because if we didn't have an appointment we'd probably not bother with the hassle of negoitating the obstacle course of road re-surfacing work going on.

David's garage used to be a Citroen dealership but he opted out and went independent after becoming tired of the endless rules and regulations that came with subscribing to the franchise operation.

The workshop still has a prominent dealer-style showroom 50 yards down the road but it now stocks numerous imported cars bought at auction in Southampton, particularly Subarus.

"We usually go down the night before the auction with the train then drive the cars back and get home at about three in the morning," says David. "Then we get to the workshop at eight with our eyes barely open."

GT Tyres in Keith
This tyre dealer is just up the road from David and the phone is virtually ringing off the hook when we arrive. With cold weather on its way, the reception area is filled with winter and specialist snow tyres to keep local drivers on the road.

There's also a wide range of accessories aimed at helping people cope with what are probably pretty awful driving conditions.

Duncan George at D C George Recovery
There's not much to say here except that we came, we see Duncan and we tell him about BEN. His garage is packed with recovery trucks and his ramps are full.

After leaving, we nip down the road to give our increasingly grimey van a quick clean. The Highland roads have turned it into a mobile mess!

Murdo Macleod at ACE Tuning
Former Top Technician finalist Murdo (pictured top right) grew up on the Isle of Lewis and now, after moving to the mainland to pursue his love of rally driving, is again working with the soothing sound of the sea within earshot.

Their can't be many workshops in England with a nicer view. Stepping out of our van we can hear the whispered break of ocean waves rising up from the harbour walls just below.

The skyline is vast and sweeping with a view that ultimately goes on, past the Orkneys and Shetlands, to the pack ice of the Arctic (although you'd need really good eye-sight to see that far).

Muro is another person we've met on our trip that would probably be working away on cars even if he didn't get paid for it.

He has just about the biggest collection of diagnostic kit I've ever seen with dealer tools coming out of his ears.

He even admits that because of the relatively small regional car parc, he doesn't get that much use out of some of them.

It's just that he doesn't like the thought of not having the latest kit. And he especially doesn't like the idea that someone could bring a car to him that he couldn't work on to the highest level.

Murdo also has a fairly unique business idea up his sleeve. Twice a month (he used to do it every weekend) he heads for a market near Aberdeen in his van and offers to look at anyone's car with a mysterious dashboard light or other engine management issue.

He finds out the cause of the problem and then tells them what parts they'll need to get to fix it!

Once again, it's a pleasure to see someone so passionate about his work. I'm sure that like me, Murdo's customers can see it a mile off.

By specialising in diagnostics and showing people he can solve motorist's complex car problems, Murdo says it's easy to get them coming back for run-of-the-mill service and repair work.

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