July/August 2021

BY Gareth Banks CAE AMIMI F riends within the automotive industry; we all need them. It’s a fact. I have wanted to not just write about, but also commend the people in our industry that have either made a big impact in some-way, or have gone out of their way to improve themselves and make a difference. This month I’ve managed to collar Steve Scott, the founder of the Simply Diagnostics Network. After meeting him in 2019, I wanted to know more about him, what the network is all about and what he’s up-to these days. Tell us about your background, and how you first came into this industry: I was born in 1969 and raised in Cheshire. Later, when I left school I started an apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner, gained my qualifications and completed my apprenticeship. These were completely different to today’s apprenticeships. I then realised that I wanted to do something different. Joinery wasn’t my thing, I didn’t feel challenged enough. I spoke about this with many people, with all of them saying that I had my trade and that was that. I was a Joiner and would be so for the remainder of my working life. I didn’t accept that, so I enrolled full time as an adult learner at a local college to study Motor Mechanics and on my day off, welding. I put my heart and soul into studying, taking in every piece of information I could, doing extra practical and written assignments, studying at night too. In the November my tutor asked me would I like to try for the examinations, years too early and a gamble? Unbeknown to me, he entered me for the C&G Craft certificates and the Advanced craft certificates! Six months from starting the course I had certificates in my hand for Craft and Advanced Craft, at Distinction. At school, I flunked all but four of my exams and was a terrible student. I drove my teachers and parents mad with my constant trouble and under-achievement. College was a complete contrast. Great tutors and a passion for what I was learning had transformed me as a student. I then had the paper qualifications but limited practical experience, I asked everywhere for a start, offering myself for free, just to get a foot in the door. I got a job on the motorway, working as a recovery driver, not a mechanic but a driver. Very quickly, that changed, and I was being sent out to breakdowns. You learn how things work very quickly on the hard shoulder of the M6. Gaining experience by the day, eventually I was given an opportunity to work for a local Renault dealership as a trainee mechanic, I will be eternally grateful to the Service Manager and to the other mechanics for giving me that chance and nurturing my passion. 30 AFTERMARKET JULY/AUGUST 2021 TECHNICAL www.aftermarketonline.net SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE Over a few years, my skills improved, I moved garages, eventually going self employed as a mobile mechanic and then a small backstreet garage of my own. It was then I hit a rut, the pressure of business and working long hours became a chore instead of a challenge, it was time for a change. The ‘people’ said I shouldn’t, it was foolish, I was a mechanic and I should settle for what I had – entirely the wrong thing to say to me! I closed the doors and signed up to be a VSO volunteer, teaching student mechanics in a rural polytechnic in Kenya, that led to adventures all over the world, eventually into R&D in remote control landmine clearance equipment in conflict zones – but that’s a story for another day. Let the mechanics interview each-other they said...What could go wrong? Here, Gareth chats with Simply Diagnostics Network founder Steve Scott