Aftermarket July/August 2023

These days, you have to keep moving. When they won Top Garage 2022 in the 1-3 staff members group, A&J Fleetcare were based in the arches under Leeds Station in the centre of the city. However, this was just a short halt on their way from an earlier long-term base to their new home, on a small trading estate on the way into the centre. The business is made up of Alan Landale (A.K.A ‘A’) on the tools in the workshop and his wife Jeanette (I.E ‘J’), handling the office and reception side upstairs. When we visited, it was only two weeks after they had moved in. In fact, some of the paint was still wet. Once we had unsticked ourselves from a wall, we asked Alan how it was going: “It’s absolutely brilliant. I wish we had stumbled across the place before. We had been signed up on it for a while, but I didn't think it would come up. Then suddenly they rang and said it was ready. It's all under one roof, with 56 AFTERMARKET JULY/AUGUST 2023 GARAGE VISIT www.aftermarketonline.net Aftermarket went to Leeds to see Top Garage 2022 winners A&J Fleetcare, just after they moved to a brand-new purpose-built facility two bays and parking in a brilliant location just off the main road.” Improvement As far as Alan was concerned, it was an improvement on what they had in the centre: “It was a nice set up but we were getting the noise pollution from the trains going over, which affected the customers as well as communication between the office and the workshop. Some customers were finding it awkward to get to as well.” They only stayed there for 16 months. For the first 19 years of its existence, the business was based a short drive away in the Harehills district of the city. Many of their existing customers have travelled with them to their new site, as you would expect, but geography is not an issue for them. Alan explained: “We have been part of the DPF Doctor Network since 2020. We have built a reputation on this side, but with the diagnostic MOVING ON UP

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=