Hi Mike and all

It was interesting that Chris Mason was interviewed both in the report and live during the morning as part of the feature report.

When questioned Mr Mason said 'we've got 1 in 5 (garages) signing up at the moment'

When asked why he though garages we not signing up, he replied 'It's something that the industry and the government have been working hard on. We can't change things overnight. People have to learn that this scheme is the scheme to take things forward. There have been somewhere in the region of a dozen failed attempts in the last thirty years..'

The interviewer then said 'For the consumer to have full confidence in the scheme, surely, what needs to happen is all garages need to commit to it. If only a few do, and yet you know that there are not just 5000 good garages in the country, what is the incentive for the consumer to use one with a green tick and not another one which they know is perfectly good, and has done them a good job up until now?'

He replied ' Um, erm, I I take your point on, and confidence and reassurance is is is is the point that I make make back to you. People er can have confidence in a Motor Codes Garage because voluntarily they have signed up to do the right thing in the first instance. And in in the rare event er event that something that should go wrong they know that they've got the backup er of a dispute resolution services should they need them.

The interviewer asked ' Is this the thing that distinguishes it (the scheme), the dispute resolution service? Mr Mason replied 'Absolutely, absolutely.'

Later the interviewer asks 'If a garage which regularly overcharges signs up to the scheme, how does the motorist know that's not a dodgy garage?' Mr Mason said ' well we'd find them out. It won't take long for us to find out people who are er operating irresponsibly. She then asked ' Do you vet them beforehand, or do you just wait for the complaints to come in afterwards?' Mr Mason said 'Em, well we have an er er er process by which we're continually monitoring the garages which is er er er approved by the Office of Fair Trading. So it's a robust system by which we monitor the garages performance. We've already expelled one garage for er non-compliance issues. So er they they don't escape our attention for long. And just to clear up one point of fact on there, the er annual subscription is £75 so not £150 er anyone can afford to join.'

I felt he was very defensive of his businesses scheme.

What were your thoughts on how he came across in the interview? Do you think that he convinced the interviewer, the motoring public or the garage industry?

James.