New site continues C&C expansion plans

C&C Vehicle Services has opened the doors to a brand new commercial vehicle accident repair centre near Chesterfield – marking the next step in its plans to build a national network – and with a fourth location set to open later this year.

The new 6,500 sqft site in Clay Cross has created six new jobs initially, with room on site for further team expansion. Fitted out at a cost of more than £100,000, it features 10 working areas for handling everything from minor repairs to major accident damage. C&C has added a 16m spraybooth to accommodate even the largest bus, coach, truck or trailer, although the firm expects the greatest local demand will be for body repairs to the UK’s booming light commercial vehicle parc.

Mark Newnes, managing director of C&C Vehicle Services, said, ‘We identified Derbyshire as a hot spot where several of our existing customers indicated a need and required our support, making it the perfect location for our second new site of the year.

‘The location we’ve found offers huge potential too; it’s a brand-new building which we’ve been able to tailor to our exact requirements. Plus, we’ve got plans to create an additional six new jobs over the coming months.’

C&C’s new Chesterfield base will be supported by the company’s larger facilities in Oldham and Wolverhampton. Workflow between the three sites is controlled centrally from head office, using the latest generation EMACS bodyshop management system and cloud-based computing.

The new site offers an additional 6,000 sqft of hard-standing space for customer and staff vehicles. It is also home to one of C&C’s own recovery vehicles, which allows staff to collect accident damaged vehicles and bring them directly to the workshop. Vehicles can also be transferred between sites to ensure the fastest repair times for customers; plus vehicles can be taken to Oldham or Wolverhampton if they require more complex work.

Mark added, ‘Our Wolverhampton site has been open for six months and business has been very strong. We’ve already grown the size of our team at this site from the 25 we started with, to 35 today. With Chesterfield now trading and another new workshop to open this year, we’re taking all the right steps to achieving our national network ambition.’

The Chesterfield branch will be managed by Keith Tindall, who has been promoted to the role after five years at C&C’s Oldham site.