Published 06-08-2014
A Kendal technician who developed a talent for fixing things when he used to repair his friends’ push bikes as a youngster is celebrating achieving the highest standard of technical qualification awarded by SEAT. Ian Sawyer, who has worked for Kendal SEAT in Queen Katherine’s Avenue for four years, recently qualified as a Master Technician after passing gruelling tests at the Volkswagen Group’s National Learning Centre in Milton Keynes. Ian, aged 43, from Orton, near Appleby-in-Westmorland, said: “As an eight-year-old I used to repair punctures and the brakes on the first push bike my dad bought me. Before long my friends would be coming round with snapped cables and tyre punctures and I would carry out all their repairs as I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty.
“I always enjoyed fixing things as a youngster including record players, cassette players and personal stereos. I was always curious about how these things worked and how you would fix and rebuild them. It was always my ambition from a young age to be a car mechanic.” Dad-of-one Ian, who is married to Alison, added: “To achieve the Master Technician qualification is a great boost.
You are constantly learning in this business but gaining this qualification really makes you feel you have achieved something. “I am also really enjoying mentoring a new employee, a junior technician. I want him to improve and get better.”
Ian started out working as a technician at dealerships in his home town of Carlisle before running his own business for ten years as a delivery driver. Now happy toiling away again in a car workshop, Ian explained: “You could say I have gone full circle and returned to doing what I always wanted to do. Now I have years of experience I can say that the harder the job is the more I enjoy it. If you find a fault straightaway you don’t see a challenge. Recently I was tasked with quite a complicated job changing a gearbox. But it gave me great satisfaction when I had sorted it out.” He has also become a confirmed admirer of the SEAT brand, recently buying an Ibiza ST estate car. “SEAT is an exciting brand,” he said. “The cars look different with their angular lines and their own identity which makes them stand out. Once you get someone in a SEAT they want to keep it. They are underrated cars.”
Ian has gained his coveted Master Technician qualification in the rapid time of four years, during which he also achieved the carmaker’s Service and Diagnostics Technician qualifications.
As a reward for gaining this top qualification Ian can look forward to a trip soon to SEAT’s headquarters in Martorell, near Barcelona, when he will meet other newly qualified Master Technicians and see in detail how the Spanish cars are built.
To gain his Master Technician status Ian was assessed for a range of skills over two weeks at the National Learning Centre based on customer interaction, brand knowledge, fixing electrical and engine faults and training apprentices. Master technicians complete over 250 hours of specialist training with re-accreditation every three years to keep skills up to date.
Gillian Haynes, Service Manager at Kendal SEAT, which is part of Cox Motors Group, said: “Ian is an excellent team leader who fully supports and encourages the entire team. He has worked really hard for his Master Technician qualification.”
Jim O’Donnell, SEAT UK’s Service Development Manager, congratulated Ian on his achievement. He said: “The network in the main has taken on-board the ‘grow your own master technician’ philosophy, which is essential if we are going to be able to work with ever more demanding customers and technology.”
All 130 SEAT dealers nationwide must have a Master Technician. SEAT UK is expecting to start another 27 qualified technicians on the journey to Master Technician qualification this year, to add to the 24 who started in 2013.