Robbie Pryke

Norfolk Trucks had recently taken on the MAN franchise in Norwich, Norfolk and later that year, was offered an opportunity to take over the 6 Depot due to poor financial performance which MAN could not longer sustain. I was "Head Hunted" by the Dealer Principal of Norfolk Trucks to perform the internal company take over and to manage the site going forward. After a few months i had corrected and addressed operation problems, this included taking on new members of staff. After 3 months the site was making profit. Over the last two years i focused on customer service and attracting new customers, this has resulted in record sales of MAN vehicles in the area which as never been achieved before. one new customer i have gained the respect of has resulted in sales of over 400 vehicle's. i have also been the main PDI centre for Menzies vehicles, which also pushed our expansion of the Felixstowe workshop to build a new PDI centre. This is the first time a franchised MAN dealer has undertaken all PDI's for this customer and this was down to my careful PDI and sales planning with 3rd party's to deliver quality in the timescales given. The past 2 years i have organised over 610 new vehicle through Felixstowe and 100s more planned for the rest of the year.

When i started at Motus Mercedes it was to help structure the workforce and assist the depot manager in the daily running of the site. They did not have a workshop Controller for some time and this showed with the financial performance from the workshop. Within 2 months i had corrected some operational procedures and identified " bottle necking" why jobs was not being completed in a timely fashion. After 3 months we went from "breaking even" to making profit. when i first started the role only 2 technicians was making Bonus on my 11th month 14 technicians was making bonus and the workshop was hitting profit targets never achieved for many years. I completed the Mercedes Workshop Controller course and also the Mercedes future management program. i was also Site manager for class 4 and 7 mot testing.

At Norfolk truck and van Ipswich i undertook various roles without formal titles. i was main vehicle diagnostic electrician on site and was sent to various sites within the company and network of businesses to fix various brands we was a franchisee for. In my time working there i was the main technician for Iveco and also used to look after the brand administration. I was main technician for LDV and Hino. In 2010 i completed and was awarded "master technician" by Isuzu. we also are a main agent for Renault Trucks which i was main diagnostic tech for truck and van. My main departure from the company was due to the fact i could not distance myself from being "hands on" as i wanted to get back to Garage Management.

I was taken on by John Grose as an "all makes master technician" with the promise to be Assistant Manager after 6 months. Unfortunately due to personal financial commitments, i could not except this role at a much lower rate i was earning. I really enjoyed my time at JG and made some great contacts and friends within the company.

My job was managing the flow of jobs through the workshop and also undertake vehicle bookings through one link and submit repair costs. When the depot manager was not on site or holiday, i would oversee the running of the site and all customer contact.

originally i started teaching at Suffolk Collage part time when i had my business. After i sold my body shop, I then went full time. I was teaching HGV mechanical, Body Repair and Refinishing, Car Mechanical and also PAVE 14-16 year old students. For 16 months i also looked after youth offender classes teaching mechanical, this was voluntary non paid work.

Smart Coat was set up by me and a former business partner. i started the business from scratch and had a fully operating body shop from scratch in 2 weeks with careful planning. We specialised in high end sports cars and custom vehicles. During this time i was also teaching part time at Suffolk Collage. I sold the business to focus on teaching.

I started working at Chassis-cab when i was 14 years old as a "Saturday boy". I was doing light tasks working on Leyland Daf trucks and vans. This led me to being accepted on to the DAF apprenticeship scheme at 16 years old. I come top 10 and top 5 in the apprentice of the year competitions with DAF when studying at Soundwell Collage in Bristol. I finished my apprenticeship with at level 3 qualification.