MANGOLETSI.COM

After-sales manager Ken Buckley had been working at a car dealership for almost 25 years before he passed his driving test.

 Ken, who will soon be celebrating 40 years working for Mangoletsi Alfa Romeo, had grown up riding motorbikes and it was only when he was offered a promotion and company car that he got behind the wheel himself.

 The 54-year-old started at the Knutsford-based company in August 1971 as a 14-year-old apprentice mechanic earning £5 a week.

 He was soon moved to the parts department and was offered an extra five bob, or 25p, on his wages.

 Ken, who is originally from Lostock and now lives in Cheadle Hulme, said: “I was moved to cover while another member of staff was on holiday, but they asked if I wanted to stay. Five bob was a lot of money in those days so I said yes.”

He remained in the parts department, as assistant manager and then manager, until 1999 when he became the after-sales manager, overseeing both the parts and the service department.

 It was when he became manager of the parts department in 1994 that Mangoletsi managing director Fraser Hudson offered him a company car. Ken quickly passed his test and has been driving Alfa Romeos ever since.

 He said: “I have always enjoyed driving Alfa Romeos, but what I have at the moment, the new Giulietta, is by far the best car I have ever driven.

 “I have driven virtually every Alfa Romeo model for the last nine years. The 156 is a lovely car, but for me the Giulietta is the best. I have always said that if I won the lottery tomorrow, the first car I would buy would be an Alfa Romeo.”

 Since Ken became after-sales manager around 86,000 cars – or 30 a day – have passed through the workshops for services or parts.

 And although he no longer gets his hands dirty in the workshops, he says putting a smile on his customers’ faces is what keeps him going.

 “It is a great feeling when you get an unhappy customer who leaves with a smile. Some customers have been coming to us for 30 years. You have to give really excellent service to keep your customers and that is what we aim to do.

 “It is the customers and the staff I have working for me that have kept me at Mangoletsi for so long.”

 He says his door is so open to staff that he would take it off its hinges if he could. “I have interviewed and took on every member of staff working for me; some have been here for 16 years. It has become like a family,” he added.

 “They know they can come and talk to me about any work or home problems. They even send me a Father’s Day card as a joke every year because they say I am their second dad!”

Ken is already hoping to reach five decades of service at the company.

 “I would like to make it to my 50^th year here. I will be really proud to say I have only had one job for my whole working life,” he said.

  “The highlight for me was definitely when I had been here for 25 years, and Fraser paid for me and my wife to go to Paris.

 “It is not very often these days that the man at the top will spend time talking to you. Fraser is very supportive and always backs his staff and that goes a long way to making a happy work force.”

 Managing director Fraser Hudson said: “A big part of the success of Mangoletsi is the experience and expertise of our staff and their passion for the Alfa Romeo brand combined with a real passion to achieve customer delight. Ken has all of this in spades.

 “He has been an amazing asset to the company for the last 40 years and we hope he will continue with us for many years to come.”