This week I was mostly impressed by cabin filters and Steve Jarnet’s lime-green barnet

It was great to see the supply chain working together to spread the aftermarket word this week.

I popped along to the Brent Park Tesco superstore to see Corteco, ECP and Wembley Hill Garage in action as they helped charity Asthma UK rattle their fundraising buckets.

(Well keep them quite still, actually, because apparently rattling is strictly off limits these days!).

Now you might wonder what Asthma has to do with the aftermarket.

Well, Corteco has teamed up with the charity to help raise awareness about the health benefits of regular cabin air filter replacement.

• Apparently, without a properly functioning filter the air inside the vehicle cabin can be up to 6 times more polluting than outside
• And according to Asthma UK, 66% of people with asthma say that traffic fumes trigger their symptoms

So how did our friendly chuggers get on?

Well the shoppers of Wembley are clearly a generous and health conscious lot because a surprising number of them not only made a donation, but were really interested to find out how a cabin filter can help keep respiratory conditions under control.

Many of them had never even considered that their vehicle had a cabin filter before.

Or were they just hypnotised by Steve Jarnet’s new barnet?

Taking the Putting Asthma in the Limelight campaign tag quite literally, the normally impeccably dressed UK sales manager for Corteco ditched his sartorial pride for the day to don a lime green wig – and very fetching he looked too!

But back to the serious matter of filters, one lady, Mrs Jackie Togher from Collingdale, told me that she had just been to visit her friend’s daughter, who is recovering from an asthma attack, in hospital.

“It’s really scary,” she said. “I hadn’t heard about these filters before. I’m really interested in anything that can help.”

She took away two filters, one for herself and her small son, and the other for her friend, and headed off round the corner to Wembley Hill Garage to get her free fitting.

Educating motorists

Calvin, Wembley Hill’s main man, said he was looking forward to seeing more educated motorists in his workshop.

Unsurprisingly, he said that motorists never ask for their cabin air filter to be changed without prompting.

“Most of them don’t know what it is but it’s so important, especially when you’re driving bumper to bumper and can smell the exhaust fumes of the car in front.

“We always recommend charcoal filters.”

The Wembley charity event was the first in a nationwide tour for Corteco. It is working together with various distribution partners and local garages in its month-long campaign.

Apparently, there’s still time to get involved – and that means there’s still time to see the lesser-spotted Mr Jarnet in all his lime-green glory. Coming soon to a Tesco near you…