Retiring garage owner recalls time ‘when you could kick a tyre’ for an MOT

Mr Harris of Devon is retiring after nearly four decades in the trade

Harris Motors
Photo: Google Street View

A garage owner in Devon is retiring after nearly four decades in the trade. Fred Harris, the now former owner of Harris Motors near Tiverton, has handed over to former employee, Richard Crossman.

Mr Harris told Devon Live: “I’ve owned it for 38 years in May, I believe. I bought it from a man called David Payne, who wasn’t here for very long, and he had bought it off of Colin Parsons, who had run it for 15 years before that; it was a Vauxhall agency before Westcars took it on.”

Mr Crossman has been leasing the business for the past four years, but has now taken ownership of the garage and the neighbouring bungalow.

It’s the end of an era for Mr Harris, who recalls an industry that has changed beyond recognition.

“Since I took on the garage, it’s gone from when you could just kick a tyre to do an MOT, and there were garages around which used to look at a car, say it looked alright, and the customer would go on their way.

”All that’s changed now; you’ve now got computers and such. Even since Richard has taken on the business, the brake testing and the emissions are checked in Swansea, and nothing is bypassed.”

He says he is “a little sad” to be moving on but he has “a lot of happy memories of the garage”.

Source: Devon Live.

5 Comments

  1. Four years in the trade, he must be physically and emotionally exhausted!
    Surely tyre kicking MOT’S were phased out way before that? 🙃🙂

    Reply
  2. I think you mean nearly four decades, not years.

    Reply
  3. Congratulations to Mr Harris on his retirement, Hope he enjoys being retired, and how things have changed

    Reply
  4. I am in my 53rd year of the motor trade and still going I seen lots of changes dome goo some bad it just concerns me that lot of the old skills in my job will soon be in short supply

    Reply
  5. I have been and still am testing for 54 years, I preceded the tyre kicking testing as when I first started mot testing at 21, it was only brakes, lights and steering!!!

    Reply

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