Hi Ed

I am with you on this, after 40 years of trading I have also spent thousands on schemes (tried nearly all of them) from Kite Mark with Unipart Car Care up to Trust my Garage being the most recent (RMI)

This year I have decided to declutter myself from all the schemes and stop paying subscriptions, remove all logo's and signs.....stop promoting companies products for FREE

I have regular customers and most new ones come via reputation or word of mouth (the best type), I do not think the sign's or an office wall full of certificates (I have a few) have ever made a difference, customers just want to find a trustworthy garage with a good name and have an honest chat about their requirements (male or female)

The UK automotive market is massive, you are never going to be able to licence it, all the schemes we sign up to are NEVER going to stop the dodgy ones trading. How often have we seen it on Watchdog, Trading Standards reluctantly get involved they may get a successful prosecution only for them to pop up a few month later under a different name

If the petition did reach 100,000 then who would debate it in Parliament? a hand full of politicians on either side who know nothing of our trade? You can see how it would go....

How much to implement: £25,000,000

How many to officially police the scheme: 10,000 around the country

Can we stop the bad ones trading easily: NO

...........NEXT!

We need a pay rise......APPROVED