CV Focus episode 5 - Paul McGerty

At 64,000 sq ft - the size of a football pitch - and with 39 vehicle bays, AGS’ brand new Heathrow dealership is the largest undercover workshop of its kind in the country.

What’s more, of the £6m investment to build it, £1m has been spent on making it ready for electric commercial vehicles, from bespoke bays and equipment to its own sub-station.

AGS Joint MD Paul McGerty tells us why it’s been future-proofed and what working with customers based at Heathrow is really like.

Heathrow, says Paul, is a ‘mini-city’. Employing 76,000 people, it is the largest single-site employer in the UK, and directly supports another 114,000 local jobs, from AGS to hotels, airline caterers and more. 

Airside at Heathrow, where many of his customers’ vehicles work, AGS has Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in place that demand a response within 15 minutes for a ‘code red’ - and financial penalties running to thousands if the SLA is breached.

That’s tough - but AGS wants to cascade that type of SLA to the wider transport industry, with same-day booking for maintenance (rather than waits of up to two weeks elsewhere) and 24-hour servicing.

This is needed, says Paul, as fleets become ‘tighter’ with fewer spare vehicles.

Finally, he talks about the firm’s work on films - a separate arm, but still vehicle-based - which has equally testing demands. And, why you’ll never see the Batmobile on the M6….