Minutes with the MP

By Helen Morgan – MP for North Shropshire

I have a huge amount of correspondence from people across North Shropshire every week on all sorts of issues. From housing and healthcare to energy, education and the environment.

One issue that has been raised with me repeatedly in recent months is crime. Several communities have reported a rise in anti-social behaviour, drugs and theft.

I have been in close contact with local police officers regarding these problems, which are often linked. I believe visible community policing is crucial to clamping down on these criminals and for this we need more bobbies on the beat. It is not fair if people are choosing to avoid certain areas at certain times because they are fearful of running into the same troublemakers.

Police officers across the region put in a huge amount of hard work but unfortunately the number of local bobbies and community stations has declined in recent years.

Tackling crime in areas like North Shropshire can only be done with a bank of local officers to rely on, otherwise it is too late by the time police are able to travel the long distances needed to arrive at a scene.

At a public meeting with the Police and Crime Commissioner, it was clear that residents in Oswestry want the force to take local issues seriously and not dismiss rural crime as insignificant. Again, it is not fair for yobs in rural areas to be allowed to go unpunished as resources are focused on larger towns and cities. I have made this point clearly to senior officers.

Behind many of these problems is the national issue of county lines, where drugs gangs from across the country exploit vulnerable youngsters in places like Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch.

To tackle this effectively, we need schools, councils, carers and health workers to work closely together to protect the local population.

However, at the centre of any approach must be much more proactive community policing.

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Milestones all round for fix auto

Llanymynech based Pant Motor Bodies Ltd now trades as Fix Auto Oswestry and Wrexham and are celebrating their 50th anniversary. The Oswestry firm is run by Managing Director

Lee Hitch, Group Bodyshop Director

Richard Edwards, Group Operations Manager Shane Price and Bodyshop Manager Oswestry Neil Andrews. Matthew Marubbi is Bodyshop Manager for the Wrexham site.

Specialising in accident repair for all vehicle types (including light commercial vans and motorhomes), they employ 48 members of staff across two sites; and, with a real focus on the future of the business, are currently training six apprentices. The business covers Shropshire, large parts of mid and north Wales, Chester and surrounding areas, the Wirral and Crewe.

The business has a long history in the area and Pant Motor Bodies was originally established by Robin and Ann Hitch in the village of Pant, hence the name!

Working for most leading insurance companies and approved for VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Honda, Renault, Suzuki and Hyundai, Fix Auto also carry out private customer repairs and can provide four-wheel alignment, ADAS, air conditioning, vehicle diagnostics, valet, wheel refurbishment, plus many other services. They run a fleet of 73 courtesy car and two courtesy vans so customers are never without a vehicle.

The business has a long history in the area and Pant Motor Bodies was originally established by Robin and Ann Hitch in the village of Pant, hence the name! Pant Motor Bodies started in 1973 in very primitive conditions in a small, corrugated tin shed, which was capable of holding four cars and was owned by local businessman Mr Norman Francis, who was a television engineer. Robin rented the building for £6 per week.

Robin’s background has always been in the accident repair business, serving his apprenticeship at a company in Walsall called S. MacNeillie & Son, which is still going today and where a young apprentice was always trained to a very high standard.

In 1977, the business had grown and bigger premises were necessary to accommodate more vehicles and staff. They eventually found one in Llanymynech, which is where you will still find them today.

Pant Motor Bodies joined a franchise called Fix Auto in 2011 due to the insurance industry driving relationships with groups rather than individual body shops. Then in 2015, they expanded out to Wrexham and moved to a larger site in 2017. This enabled them to provide a much better service with 2 locations for all customer and work providers. The business is still owned and run by the family, with son Lee now at the helm.

“To celebrate the anniversary, we are planning a couple of social events with our staff, plus we want to feature 50-year branding on all our courtesy vehicles, recovery vehicles and signage,” said Lee.

“During March we celebrated several amazing staff milestones, which include Neil Mcardle, Richard Edwards and Peter Hayward who have been with us for 40 years. Wendy Williams, Paul Robertson, Gary Staley and Peter Morris have all worked here for 30 years and for Neil Andrews, Roy Millington, Mike Talbot, Karl Evans and Gary Edwards it’s been 20 years. A number of other staff who have already passed these milestones and I estimate we have over 800 years of staff experience within the company.

“We have to keep our workshops up to date and recently invested in some new equipment which includes a hunter 4-wheel alignment system, a wheel alignment ramp, Glue dent pulling system for both sites, Hella ADAS system for both sites, Stanner Quick Pull Jig and we are now looking to invest in new spray booths at our Oswestry site. We want to provide the best service we can for our customers and this means investing back into the business.”