Schaeffler has postponed the Repxpert Academy LIVE event planned for June 20th at Blackpool & The Fylde College. “The current restrictions on social distancing and mass gatherings mean that we have had to put all Repxpert Academy LIVE events on hold for now, so we are looking at other ways to help garages get ‘back on track’” explained Schaeffler Training Manager, Alistair Mason.
Top Technician has returned for 2020, and round one is now open online. The garage sector competition has been running since 2002, with thousands of people testing their skills in a fun, competitive environment. For the winners, the competition has life-changing potential, according to the organiser, as it puts them on a national stage. Opportunities often follow.
With a significant number of places already snapped up, technicians are being urged to sign-up for the first Repxpert Academy LIVE event of 2020, held at Basingstoke College of Technology, on Saturday 25 January.
The GS Yuasa Academy has received a ‘Top Product’ award from the trade magazine Professional Motor Mechanic (PMM).
Schaeffler has hailed the first-ever Repxpert Academy LIVE event as a “fantastic triumph” after welcoming more than 70 technicians through the doors of Lincoln College. Following the inaugural event, Schaeffler has confirmed that the next Repxpert Academy LIVE event will take place at Basingstoke College on 25 January 2020. Other host venues planned during 2020 include Blackpool, Warwick and Swansea.
Standard Motor Products Europe (SMPE) is continuing its development of the Lucas brand across UK and Europe with the introduction of distributor and technician training seminars. The first-ever Lucas training programme under SMPE was in Kiev, with Ukrainian business and Lucas distributor Alt-Star. This was followed by training with Autoaibe, a Temot member in Vilnius, Lithuania. Both Lucas distributors brought a mixture of online, wholesale and electrical specialists to the training and more than 30 people attended in total.
Repxpert Alistair Mason recently piloted one of Schaeffler’s technical support vehicles to Oldfields Garage in Leominster, a workshop that has been fitting Schaeffler products successfully for a number of years, in order to provide some training to its dedicated team of technicians.
Premier League match tickets, Sony PS4 consoles and exclusive Allied Nippon footballs are the headline prizes up for grabs, as Allied Nippon gears up for this summer’s festival of football with a promotional campaign aimed at garage technicians.
With the clocks going back, winter can be a dangerous time to be on the roads, even for the most experienced driver. Windscreen wiper supplier Trico states that garages should offer a free winter wiper blade check to help motorists stay safe.
Wheel alignment specialist Pro-Align has introduced a new advanced level training course for technicians with a basic level of knowledge and understanding of wheel alignment theory and practice. Suitable for technicians who have already passed Pro-Align’s IMI quality assured wheel alignment fundamentals course, the new course is designed to extend technicians’ skills in both theory and practical sessions, enabling their business to grow their wheel alignment expertise and revenue further.
Bridgestone has become the first tyre manufacturer to offer the Society of Operations Engineers’ (SOE) Commercial Tyre Technician Licence to employees of fleets across the UK. The company said the licence would raise standards and improve uniformity in the commercial tyre industry. Attaining the licence requires the completion of three practical assessments and an online test. It aims to regulate the industry and provide best practice with an approved standard that everyone can aspire to achieve. The licence is currently being rolled out, and Bridgestone UK development trainers Phil Thirsk and Paul Turner passed rigorous tests in October to become qualified assessors.
ATS Euromaster group operations director Peter Tye has expressed his “delight” at technician Lee Hayman being made the 2016 REACT Roadside Technician of the Year during the NTDA’s Tyre Industry Awards. It is the second successive time that an ATS Euromaster technician has won the award.
RMI Bodyshops (NAB/VBRA) along with the Auto Body Professionals Club (ABP) has compiled an industry guidance note that seeks to clarify the changes to the BS 10125 standard. You can download the new note in full here.
Joint recipient of the Tyre Industry Awards’ REACT Roadside Technician of the Year, ATS Euromaster’s Michael Vasey works at the network’s Aberdeen centre predominantly as a mobile technician in one of ATS Euromaster’s more than 820 service vans. The 29-year-old holds City and Guilds qualifications in every aspect of tyre fitting and roadside breakdown, from car and van to heavy industrial vehicles, including experience working airside at Aberdeen International Airport.
New research commissioned by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) reveals that nearly one in five MPs believe all technicians in their local garage are qualified to work on today’s vehicles. But, according to the IMI, the reality is quite different, with no mandatory requirement for vehicle technicians to be qualified – or to ensure qualifications are kept up to date and in line with new vehicle technology. With separate IMI research revealing that 53 per cent of drivers planning to buy or lease a new car in the next two years are considering an electric or hybrid vehicle, the IMI is urging government to tackle this issue in the interests of public safety – and to help rebuild motorists’ trust in the sector.
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