Needed - a mechanic with a woman’s touch
A FEMALE-friendly Middlesbrough vehicle maintenance firm claims it is being driven out of business by mechanics who can’t get their heads around what women want.
Yvette Sheekey, owner of Penelope’s Pitstops, was forced to close the workshop in Whorlton Road nearly three weeks ago after failing to find a “technically sound, service-driven” mechanic to replace the three who left in quick succession following disputes over the company’s women-orientated service standards.
These include wiping oily handprints off the steering wheel before returning the car to customers. As well as carrying out routine MoTs and maintenance work, the firm offers more unusual services, including while-you-wait manicures.
Ms Sheekey, who applied her experience in managing ‘women only’ fitness gyms to the macho world of vehicle servicing after discovering that many female drivers were intimidated by visits to the garage, said good mechanics with the right attitude were hard to find.
“I’m not a mechanic. I don’t go into the workshop to tell them how to fix cars and I don’t expect them to tell me how to run my business. There’s conflict all the time - they just don’t get the concept.”
Until a suitable mechanic is found, a 16-year-old apprentice is also out of a job.
Ms Sheekey, who started the business in March 2008, said she was still “100% confident” in her female friendly business model but has revised her target turnover from £380,000 to “around £130,000-£140,000”, which, given the economic downturn, was now “more realistic”.
