WHEN it comes to job satisfaction, Mark Bartlett is on top of the world.
Call either the AA or RAC in Guernsey and Mark will be your roadside Samaritan.
Imagine, a job where all your customers are pleased to see you.
‘Well, 99.9% of them are,’ he corrected.
‘I’m their hero – it’s very fulfilling.’
The exception?
‘People whose new cars have let them down can get a bit wound up sometimes, but that’s nothing to do with me.’
Mark left Ruette Braye after 18 years in the workshop to join the AA as one of its two local patrolmen seven years ago.
After four years the other patrolman retired and the AA decided that it was no longer viable to base staff in the island.
They left the familiar van with Mark and gave him the contract to handle their local callouts.
And so three years ago Automotive Breakdown Services was born, handling AA and other recoveries as well as the knight-in-shining-armour roadside repairs.
The business grew and the ABS fleet now includes an Iveco slidelift and LDV speclift trucks and a motorcycle-recovery trailer.
But the familiar yellow-and-black van is going back to the AA in the UK.
It will be replaced by a Fiat Scudo that Rabey’s Garage is kitting out to a similar specification, but this time bearing the ABS livery.
And with the extra work, Mark is about to become an employer.
‘Etienne May is joining me from Villette Garage at the beginning of March.’
There are already times when he could use an extra pair of hands.
‘I had 18 callouts the other Monday,’ he said.
‘Then, it was the first school run day after half-term.’
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