Directors
David Kershaw
Managing Director
Phil Douthwaite
Director
David Borton
Director
Christopher Hattersley
Director
Management Team
Brenda Upton
Accounts
Andrew Dexter (Mickey)
Management Team
Arron Hill
Service Reception
Staff
Andrew Matthews
Andrew is one of our leads technicians, having been with us since school. He has served his apprenticeship and is now well on his way to completing his BDT.
Andrew takes on the largest strip downs, Discovery body-offs being one of his regular large jobs. He is married to Maria and they have a wizard footballing daughter, Connie.
Ian Harris
Ian served his apprenticeship at Honda, and since joining has become an MOT tester and started on the BDT at Bosch. Ian has also recently been married!
Nigel Markham
Our second part time driver. Nigel has completed 24 years with us as a body worker and is now enjoying the clean life as a driver.
Romek Jaworski
Our no.1 electrician, Romek is a highly skilled and experienced technician. Equally conversant in English, Polish and a bit of German.
Abigail Kershaw
Abby helps on reception on Saturday mornings. She is the fourth generation of the family to work at Central Garage.
Jacob Pugh
Jacob joined us in 2019 at sixteen. Already he’s the tallest in the business! He has joined as a BOSCH apprentice and travels to Doncaster for one week intensive courses three to four times a year. He is being mentored by Andy.
Michael Jones
Michael joins us in July to help Chris in the reception and liaising with the workshop. He comes from a workshop background having started at Colliers as an apprentice, then technician, moving onto workshop controller at Colliers multi brand , then Volkswagen in Halesowen.
Sam Pope
Sam has completed his apprenticeship and started on the BDT programme. He loves his Fiat Abarth sports cars.
Gemma Parcell
Gemma is our part time receptionist and deals with our online enquiries and bookings. She has been with us since 2007. In that time she has married, bought a house and had two children.
Dave Morris
Dave is a former Vauxhall Master Tech. Now capable of servicing on all makes. He is an MOT tester as well. He is happily married to Jacque and enjoys his evenings watching Emmerdale.
Oscar Sanders
Oscar started with us at 17 as an apprentice. He achieved A or A* at GCSE in Maths, Physics. English and Chemistry. He attends the Bosch Training Centre in Doncaster. He is being trained in both mechanical and Electronic aspects of automotive engineering.
Paul Trahearn
Paul is our head Valeter. He is our go to tech for trim or paint rectification.
Martin Cox
Martin has come to us from being a Master Tech with Volkswagen. Keen on all working on all ages of VW, Martin adds more depth of knowledge to one of our most common brands seen in the workshop.
Reece Walker
Reece joined us from School. He is our first bodyshop apprentice in some fifteen years. His hobbies are drawing Animes(a Japanese style of drawing figures) and collecting Japanese books on Anime. Aside from this, Reece likes eating only junk food and drinking Monster drinks and sleeping.
David Kershaw
Managing Director
David is the Managing Director of the Company. He is responsible for keeping staff up to date with technical information and diagnostic needs. He has an OND in Technology from Stafford College and a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Wales. Throughout University, David was sponsored by the MOD (Air force). He has a Master technician qualification from the ATA and is a qualified Bosch Diagnostic Technician (BDT). David was a representative for the Midlands area of Bosch Car Service (BCS) Council and was then in 2023 was elected National Chairman of the BCS Council. David is a Freeman of The Worshipful Company of Smiths, Lichfield’s oldest guild of craftsmen, having been invited into the Company in 2009.
David used to be sport mad, playing rugby, tennis, running, water skiing and swimming. He rowed competitively for thirteen years for UCNW Bangor, Burton Leander, DeMontfort University, then Derby RC. He completed the London Marathon in 2000. Now with most parts worn out he sticks to a bit of mountain biking, golf and snow skiing in between visits to the Chiropractor. When he can, David likes to spend his time on his narrow boat, Lollipop.
David is a keen supporter of Marie Curie. He has cycled from top to bottom of Ireland, from London to Paris and London to Amsterdam to raise funds.
David has been an active member of Lichfield Round Table 250 and was Chairman for 2006/2007. He has now moved on to the Old boys club “Spires”, a 41 Club where he was Chairman in 2021/22. He is married to Sue and they have a beautiful daughter, Abigail, who definitely takes her looks from her mother.
At home, David likes to work in his garden, enjoy the surrounding countryside and take his two Dalmatians on walks.
Phil Douthwaite
Director
Philip is the longest serving member of staff with some 30 years service. Philip runs the MOT side, keeping up to date with ever changing legislation on the MOT test. Being from the old school he is still the best man to “toil with carburettors” on the older vehicle. He has also gained Master Technician status with the ATA. Philip became a Director of the company in 2010.
Philip’s main pursuit is golf, being a nine handicapper. He has two children and is married to Jane.
David Borton
Director
David is another long serving member of the team, being with us from school. He served his apprenticeship with us and has never been afraid to turn his hand to anything. David showed an interest in bodywork and this evolved into us doing our own bodywork in house in the early nineties after previously sub-contracting. David implements new technology into the running of the paint shop. David now runs a body shop producing high quality repairs. David was made a Director in 2010. David has a son Josh who he supports with his hobby of Go-Karting.
Brenda Upton
Accounts
Brenda has run the accounts for ten plus years. She comes from a bookkeeping background and brings extensive knowledge of Sage accounting and business information systems. Since her arrival, the company accounts have been over-hauled to ensure accurate costing of repair and maintenance projects to ultimately benefit both the company and the customer.
Christopher Hattersley
Director
Chris is in charge of reception at Central. He worked as a Parts advisor at Vauxhall for eight years and then at Mercedes for seven and a half years. He is qualified to NVQ levels 1,2 and 3 in parts supply. He has several manufacturer qualifications from Mercedes and Vauxhall. Chris is engaged to Samantha. They enjoy walking their Labradors, Milo and Molly in the countryside or on the beach.
Andrew Dexter (Mickey)
Management Team Member
Andrew has been with us since leaving school. He attended Tamworth College during his apprenticeship. He is a qualified and current MOT tester. He has achieved Technician status. He has a son and daughter. He is currently on the Bosch Diagnostic Training programme (BDT).
Arron Hill
Service Reception
Nickname ‘H’, Arron has been with us since school, with a small time spent at a Jaguar dealership. In the last few years, Arron moved away from the workshop floor to assist on reception. Away from work Arron enjoys cycling, drinking and fishing.