The reason why
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I was very interested to read Mr. Hutchingson's letter on garages which offer 24-hour breakdown services and who, when called upon for assistance offer only excuses (CM. Feb 2).
As a garage owner who offers an effective 24-hour service I can only agree with Mr. Hutchingson in his comments—a large number of garages make any excuse for not turning out to a job.
As an example, we were recently called out to a commercial vehicle at Doncaster, approximately 58 miles away at 2.30 a.m. to rectify a lighting fault, after the driver had contacted a number of 24-hour service garages in that district without success. (The vehicle owners were perfectly credit-worthy.) Other examples could be quoted, enough to fill several pages of this book.
The reason for garages going to the expense of advertising 24-hour service and then not providing it may be that they are pressed by the manufacturer for which they are the agent to advertise, but the manufacturer is not there to see that it is carried out.
Surely the maxim for any service advertised is that you are ready and able to provide it when called upon. If you don't want to do the job, don't advertise that you do.
May I at this stage point out that there are many problems in providing this service: the main one is in getting fitters and recovery vehicle operators who are prepared to be on call during the night, and who are prepared to have phones installed in their homes. It also means that somebody has to be at the garage day and night throughout the year to take phone calls. The stocking of spares is a very big headache, particularly when one handles any make of vehicle, as we do.
One final point that would help transport managers and us alike is that when they have a vehicle in trouble, to find out the exact location of it and to tell the driver to stay with the vehicle. It can save many hours of touring around, sometimes with a heavy recovery vehicle, looking for the vehicle, and then looking for the driver.
R. H. LAWLEY, Station Road Garage, Topcliffe, Thirsk, Yorks.