Reply To: Garage owners left to weigh up pros and cons of staying open

[Mel Hakhnazarian]

From the 24th of March I closed my doors under government guidelines of the coronavirus for approximately 2 weeks, only then will we reassess the risk to you and staff and take advice from government guidelines.
Sadly we can’t work from home but we are working in a high risk industry. We’re dealing face to face with our customers, touching their keys, car door handles, steering wheels, parking brake levers, seat belts and driving controls, thus potentially passing any virus from vehicle to vehicle and then on to other customers, their family members and to my staff members. This hasn’t been an easy decision, with the limited amount cars on the road and where people are only using their vehicles for essential driving they can get by without a service for another couple of weeks or more. I briefly popped into work today to finish off some loose ends, there are 3 other garages and a tyre shop a on our industrial estate all without work and customers, they’re all sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. They were all 2 metres apart mind, but is it worth the risks of being at work for no work!