Praise for "legend" mechanics who "saved the family holiday"

Wednesday 09 August 2023

A pair of local mechanics have been dubbed "absolute legends" after one personally embarked on a five-hour trip to the UK to source a part needed to repair a car just in time to rescue a family's holiday.

Local mum Sarah Pereira said her family's summer trip to Portugal would have been scuppered were it not for the "hard work" and dedication of Ben Hague and Steven Knight of Apex Motor Group.

Two days before Sarah and her family were about to set off, the turbo on her brother's car broke.

This was "a disaster", explained Sarah, as the family holiday was supposed to start with almost 2,000km of driving to the Algarve. 

"We had no hope," she added. "We'd already started trying to find alternative ways to get there." 

Although she thought it was too late, Sarah posted on Facebook to ask if any local mechanics would be able to help fix the car.

Ben from Apex Motor Group messaged her.

"He said that if we could find a turbo then he would be able to fit us in to fix the car before we were due to go on holiday," Sarah explained.

However, the only turbo which Sarah could find was in the UK – and none of her family could go and collect it due to work commitments.

Pictured: The drive down to the Algarve in Portugal "went smoothly" thanks to Ben and Steven.

When she explained this to Ben, he agreed to send his mechanic, Steven, to collect the much-needed part.

"I couldn't believe it," said Sarah. "Especially because Steven was his only mechanic working at the time as the rest of Ben's team were on holiday!"

Steven set off on the five-hour round trip involving a flight to Heathrow, a taxi to collect the turbo, a taxi back to Heathrow, and then a flight back to Jersey.

"He was even delayed on the way back!" said Sarah.

With the essential car part on island, the car was fixed in time for the family holiday.

"They really went above and beyond," Sarah said. "It all happened so quickly, it didn't seem real."

"Even now we're on holiday, Ben keeps messaging me to make sure everything is ok with the car," she added.

"We could not thank them enough for their hard work, being updated throughout the way, and for their dedication for making this work.

"Thank you so much for saving the holiday!"

From the Algarve, Sarah confirmed that "everything had gone smoothly" and the whole family were having a "really lovely" time on holiday.

"I don't want to come back," she joked.