Trading Standards boss for garage code

The boss of the Trading Standards Institute has joined the car service and repair industry's code of practice.

Trading Standards chief executive Rob Gainsford will become the chairman of the Motor Code for Service and Repair compliance panel in the new year.

The panel ensures that the 6500+ member garages are maintaining their standards. It can impose sanctions on garages if standards slip and can also throw them out of the voluntary scheme.

Gainsford said: 'The Trading Standards Institute has worked with the automotive industry for many years now to encourage and support improvement in its transactions with consumers. We continue to see progress.

'At a time of extraordinary economic challenge, the need for mutual confidence can rarely have been more important.'

The compliance panel sits four times a year to provide independent monitoring of garages' performance and invites four independent delegates to oversee the process.

The Motor Code for Service and Repair was established following criticism of standards in the industry. It says that satisfaction levels among customers using garages that have joined the scheme are running at 95%.