99.7 PERCENT OF GARAGES OPENED THROUGH LOCKDOWN

A survey of 5,000 garages found that the vast majority had remained open throughout England’s second lockdown.

Out of 4,963 respondents in a survey for supply chain management firm Fleet Assist, 99.7 percent garages said they were fully open and just 16 garages were closed.

Workshops remain open through lockdown (Image,Getty)

That compares with 2,511 (54 percent) that were closed at the same time during the first lockdown in another survey by the same firm using the same sample size.

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Fleet Assist says the UK MOT network which suffered from many backlogs earlier in the year is also in good shape with almost all class four, five and seven lanes open for testing, compared with May, when around half of the testing lanes were closed.

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“The servicing and MOT landscape in the UK looks very different now than it did in the first lockdown. All garages have learnt from their experiences first time round and have strict procedures in place that have enabled them to stay open for business. This is good news for the economy and for the company car and van driver,” explained Chris Crow, Fleet Assist’s head of network.

“This has also helped reduce the backlog of servicing and MOTs from earlier in the year,” he added.