Robin's Diary

This time last year I only just managed to attend the Auto Trader Retailer Awards in London and collect two amazing wins, Customer Choice and the big one, Retailer of the Year.  I was however high on morphine, and only able to attend because it coincided with my follow-up appointment to see the surgeon who had operated on my back!!  Winning the awards was a fantastic achievement and, as you can imagine, briefly helped to ease the pain!

So here we are, 12 months on - I was laid up for most of 2018, only returning to work full time this January, and finally becoming pill-free in March! The team have done an amazing job in my absence and at the Auto Trader Awards this year, we were Highly Commended as Retailer of the Year – it is not a win, but is an absolutely brilliant performance bearing in mind the team had to run pretty much without a Captain.

It’s not often I am proud of coming second, but this is actually a better achievement than last year. We could have been in a real mess - I certainly was - and I was not in position to add anything to the effort. Thankfully an amazing group of people took up the challenge! So, to be voted the 2nd Best Car Retailer in the UK on the biggest platform, taking into account customer feedback, advert quality, images, honesty, trust etc is amazing. Hence,  for once in my life,  2nd  position is a great achievement!       

“It’s not about an opening weekend. It’s about a career, building a set of films you’re proud of. Period.” George Clooney