Tag Archives: West Sussex

women in business

Woman of the Year 2012 Awards

FOXY is sponsoring the Business Woman category at the Woman of the Year Awards 2012.

Nominations for this popular category include
Abbe Denness
Charlotte Briggs
Cheryl MacDonald
Cheryl Rickman
Christina Bassadone
Dawn Gracie
Jane Hames
Jen Trew
Jo Gilham
Jo Yates Smith
Joyanne Williamson
Lucy Ames
Meg Fenn
Michelle Marcar
Orla Lambe
Rachel Boyle
Ruth Anscombe
Sarah Thompson
Sonia Martin

Good luck everybody. The lucky winner will be announced at the Awards ceremony on the 30 November at Avisford Park Hotel.

The event has been organised by Johnston Press Southern Events in connection with the Mumpreneurs website. It has received high profile publicity in Sussex so far. The main event sponsor is The Body Shop and the evening promises to be a lot of fun, hosted by well known TV broadcaster Fred Dinenage MBE.

Put this in your diary quick ladies. One of the must-attend occasions, even if you haven’t been nominated this year, I’d say.

I am looking forward to it very much and delighted to be involved in raising awareness of the impressive economic contribution so many worthy women are making to the West Sussex economy.

FOXY

garage services

Yet another ‘rip-off garage’ survey; this time in West Sussex

How much did you say?My blood boils when I read about bad garage surveys. The latest states that only one out of eight garages tested by West Sussex Trading Standards carried out all the required work on a test car with known problems.

Imagine the safety implications here. Not just the vulnerability of many female motorists but the accidents that badly repaired or inadequately serviced cars can cause for us all.

We can’t prove it for obvious reasons but we suspect that many women on their own don’t complain because they don’t realise they’ve been ripped off or, even worse, despatched with a car that’s unsafe.

Why am I surprised by rip-off garages?

No-one should be surprised that garage surveys like this produce these such shameful results across the UK. This is an unregulated industry where
+ anyone can open a garage
+ mechanics don’t have to be qualified
+ the industry’s Motor Codes scheme covers dealerships/garages that opt-in (and bad garages don’t for obvious reasons); an added complication is that HM Government runs this ‘OFT approved code’ scheme and is reliant on the subscriptions from it
+ the Trading Standards recommended scheme ‘Buy With Confidence’ merely covers customer service issues (not any measurable quality workmanship that should underpins the business).

Even worse, few motorists realise this or the risk they run when choosing any garage.

FOXY would like all car mechanics to be accredited

Why is it that gas fitters, plumbers and electricians need to be qualified to practise their trade but mechanics don’t? Yet they can repair safety issues such as the brakes on our cars.

The perfect solution is the Institute of the Motor Industry’s ATA accreditation scheme where mechanics are assessed, sign an ethical commitment and have to do it all over again three years later. Regardless of whether they are dealership or garage employees, all mechanics should be required to take this test before working on our cars.

And what a shame WSTS is unable to publish the names of the offending garages here. When we’ve asked about this in the past Trading Standards have said ‘we can’t tell you for legal reasons…’ which is a cop out we feel – knowing how many vulnerable women are prey to the unscrupulous and/or incompetent garage staff out there.

West Sussex garage survey details

West Sussex County Council’s Press Release PR4996 confirms that a selection of garages were targeted on this occasion following complaints from members of the public. This is worrying in itself because it indicates a history of shoddy workmanship rather than a one-off mistake which can be forgiven. A test car was prepared beforehand by Trading Standards and then taken to each garage for a service and pre MOT check.

Examples of rip-off garage behaviour this time include
+ an oil filter which was charged for but not changed
+ a tyre was said to be damaged when it wasn’t
+ a part of an exhaust was said to need replacing when it wasn’t faulty
+ an engine was overfilled with oil (which can be as costly as too little oil)
+ extra work was done and charged for without permission
+ low tyre pressures were not checked/topped up (with potential safety implications here).

Formal action is now being considered by Trading Standards against four of the garages.

Christine Field, County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said: “Motorists need to be able to trust their garages won’t exploit them, as most people are unlikely to be able to check the claims for themselves. In the present economic climate, people are feeling the pinch, and need to be able to rely on work being done competently.”

We wholeheartedly agree Christine but the only way we’ll ever see this is through industry regulation. In the meantime, the best solution is for female motorists to join FOXY Lady Drivers Club so we can identify, monitor and share the details of the best garages together. In this way women drivers can steer clear of the rest (and tell their menfolk of course).

To find out more about this subject read FOXY’s Good Garage Guide.

To find out which garages have signed the FOXY Promise ‘to never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need’ in West Sussex please visit the FOXY Choice website and its female friendly garage network.

To tell us about good, bad or indifferent garages/dealerships in West Sussex please leave your female garage feedback here.

If you have a problem with a garage, you can contact the marvellous Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 040506. But even they won’t know the inside story here and what the many logos and competing quality schemes actually need. For informed advice, information, assistance and support female motorists can also contact FOXY Lady Drivers Club (FOXY as in shrewd, canny and discerning which is what women need to be when choosing a garage)…

We’re also a not for profit and 100% independent company which means we really are doing it all for the motorist. If you’d like to know more, read what the Daily Telegraph said about us (and Mandy, a Scottish widow in particular) and this very issue.

FOXY

car dealerships

Hands up every foxy lady who can change a tyre?!

I recently went to a special evening called Women in Gear held at the Kia dealership showroom in Washington, West Sussex.

More than 80 eager women and a couple of token chaps were there, keen to hear more about how to change a tyre, what to do if we’re confronted by road rage and how to defend ourselves.

I was there with my FOXY stand, promoting FOXY Lady Drivers Club (in the photo) with my bright red jumper matching our mascot Sophie’s little red sports car.

Everyone loved self-protection guru Grant Hicks who made the subject of defending yourself fun and practical. He gave us great tips about how to foil muggers or thieves in and around our cars – like what to do if someone attacks us from behind and how to disarm them in three easy moves with the aid of everyday objects.

We heard about the psychology behind road rage and how to deal with behind-the-wheel bullies from ex-Police Chief Inspector Vic Botterill, who explained useful techniques like recognising how close people can stand next to you before it becomes intimidating, and what to do when that happens.

Everyone’s thoughts and emotions form our attitudes at a given time, and our feelings can alter our perception of a situation.

We learned that aggressive and therefore potentially dangerous driving usually starts with something small like a flash of headlights or a beep, which can quickly escalate to verbal abuse. The next thing you know there’s a confrontation or worse. Vic told us if we’re being followed, never drive home but go to a friend’s house or even better, directly to the nearest police station.

This might seem common sense but when we’re in a panic situation, it’s easy to forget the obvious and default to a less safe option.

Some of us were surprised to find we were the aggressors ourselves, as we were asked what we’d do in certain situations. Of course, it wasn’t me, guv!

We were then taken to Kia’s pristine and shiny workshops where we split into groups and were shown what’s under the bonnet. There are surprisingly few parts we need to know about these days compared with older motors, but even so we should all be able to top up our oil and water, and know what the battery looks like.

All of us came away with some really useful tips and techniques, and those I spoke to were certainly glad they’d gone.

FOXY

Women in Gear run free courses from time to time across Sussex.

women drivers

West Sussex Women in Gear

2 Comments

Jacquie Davis showed us how to cope with the unexpected...
Last week I attended a garage evening for women in Goring, West Sussex, organised by Birchwood Motor Group. I went with a Club member who wanted some company!

The evening split into three parts starting with a speaker about road rage followed by a session in the garage and rounded up with a talk about self defence, just in case.

The first speaker was a former Chief Police Inspector turned behaviour expert. He explained how most of us have preconceived ideas about motorists which are all too often groundless.

Anyone who drives too fast, too slow, who tailgates us or doesn’t indicate when we think they should may be immediately said to be too old, too young, male wearing a hat (!) or female… Needless to say, these perceptions can put us in a really bad mood when driving. But women shouldn’t be intimidated by the road rage they encounter. The perpetrators are just bullies (usually male in our case) and we shouldn’t let them make us feel like victims either or be tempted to inflame a situation by our body language.

If you have made a mistake say sorry, don’t smile, stay calm throughout, drive confidently at all times and carry on regardless…

The next session took us past the latest Suzuki and Skoda models into the garage area where we were then split into groups and shown by patient technicians how to change a wheel, check our tyres and top up oils and fluid levels. I overheard one lady admitting she hadn’t realised that different cars needed different oils and we were all able to ask motoring-related questions in a fairly jargon free environment.

At this stage we were all treated to a surprise supper including fresh sandwiches, pastries and hot and cold drinks.

The highlight of the evening for me was a quite remarkable lady called Jacquie Davis who then talked to us about self protection; she had been a personal bodyguard and mentioned some really hairy assignments. My initial reaction was that I didn’t want to think about having to defend myself for real but in a group of 80 females we all had a good laugh at imagining how we might. I can still see Jackie fending off her (smaller technician) ‘attacker’ as well as her novel uses for an umbrella and any innocent pen that might come in handy if someone chose to invade her personal space…

Jackie’s advice was to trust your instincts – if you think you are in danger you probably are so get ready to run or fight. You can charge your adrenaline levels by pumping (ie opening and closing) your fists several times. This does work she says although I’ve not needed it to yet… Put handbags under seats not on passenger seats; lock all doors in cities; go round not through parks at night; don’t stop the car in a dark place even if it seems to be police doing the asking – if it’s genuine they’ll understand if you drive to a lit up forecourt or the nearest police station before getting out. In a nutshell don’t take unnecessary risks and do put as much distance between him and you as possible…

All in all a great evening and all credit to Birchwood Motor Group’s staff. Most of them were male of course but I did spot a female Service Manager which is a rare and wonderful thing. The attitude of the Dealer Principal was particularly refreshing – ‘We are here to serve you’ he said and the whole team did exactly that including offering to park our cars on arrival bringing them up to the door for us when we left (with a goody bag to remind us of the night).

Well done Birchwood Motor Group for providing evenings like this for women drivers in Sussex. And to the AVF Communications team for organising the Women In Gear programme on their behalf.

FOXY

If you are looking for a female friendly garage or dealership like this one, near you, check out the FOXY Choice website. It identifies all measurable signs of quality which is oh so important because few motorists realise that UK garages don’t have to be licensed or mechanics qualified. And we’re talking about your personal safety here.