In 1994 John set up on his own with a trolley Jack, tool box and one ramp in a small unit in Actons Walk.
Two weeks later Gary Clarke joined and John won a major commercial customer. The business grew and two years later expanded into the adjoining unit where an MOT bay and more repair ramps were installed.

Wishing to maintain our high service levels, whilst increasing our throughput has meant constant investment in new equipment. At the Actons Walk garage we have installed a second Butler tyre changer for specialist alloy wheels, and an air conditioning re-gassing and diagnostics machine. We have installed two additional repair ramps, one of which will lift light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes.

John bought Spring Street garage1997, when it had one MOT bay and no repair ramps. In 2001, Steve Hook joined as branch manager of Spring St garage, followed by Andy Woods as branch manager at Actons Walk. In 2006 both Steve and Andy joined John on the board of John Atherton Autos Ltd.

In 2006, Phil Whitehead, a very experienced technician, relocated from Yorkshire to join us as foreman at the Actons Walk garage. He completes an excellent service and repair team at this garage, which now has all of the latest technology equipment required to work on modern vehicles.

Today we have 16 staff, many of our technicians having joined us as apprentices and stayed with us. It is primarily through the skilled and organised contribution of our technicians that we are able to offer the service level that our customers now expect from us.

Says John Atherton "Our trade has a poor reputation for the way it treats its customers. We look to capitalise on this by demonstrating very clearly that we operate in exactly the opposite way. We have built our business on being honest and genuine with customers and in fulfilling the promises we make. Our customers seem to appreciate this and we enjoy a very high level of repeat business - so the loyalty seems to work both ways."