A motor technician was made an offer he could not refuse by his mechanic mentor.
Grangemouth’s Alan Hunter quit John R Weir Mercedes garage earlier this month with a view to setting up his own business, but a talk with long-time family friend Robert Tweedie resulted in the 34-year-old father-of-two being offered a chance to run a ready-made, well-respected and long-established local garage.
Robert has been running his business, currently located at Abbotsinch Service Centre, Abbotsinch Court, Grangemouth, for the last 40 years. He has been looking to groom someone to replace him and take up the reins of the business when he retired.
He said: “Alan was looking for some business advice because he wanted to set up on his own. I just said to him there’s no need to do that - you can have this business if you want.
“I’ve known him since he was in short trousers and I tried to get him to work for me 12 years ago and he turned me down. I’ve always wanted Alan working here. This will give him a chance in life when I retire a year from now.
“I want the business to keep going. He is a good laddie and a good worker - I couldn’t hand over the business to anyone better. I wish someone had given me a chance like this when I was his age.”
Alan felt the time was right to go it alone after a decade at John Weir Mercedes. He realised offers like the one he received from Robert do not come along every day and quickly grabbed the opportunity.
He said: “I started as an apprentice with Sam Anderson when I was 15. Then I moved to Abercrombie VW in Stirling for a few years before working at Mercedes. I just wanted to do something else and maybe start my own business.
“I just need the business experience and Bob is going to pass that on to me. It makes such a change when you actually look forward to going to your work - knowing that you will be working on all kinds of different things.”
Robert hopes Alan’s expertise and years of experience with Mercedes, Volkswagen and Audi will stand the business in good stead.
“There are a lot of older Mercedes on the road at the minute,” he said. “People will want them to keep running, so they will come here.”
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