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Pete Walker

Group Service and Bodyshop Director

Group Service and Bodyshop Director

Like many Hendy colleagues, Pete Walker joined the business through acquisition. The Hendy Group is a fast-growing business and has expanded rapidly. In Pete’s case, he joined when Hendy bought the Westover Group of motoring retailers in April 2019, increasing the size of the Hendy business by about 50 %.

 

Unlike most Hendy people, who often come from Hendy’s home territory on the South Coast, Pete is a Yorkshireman, born in Leeds. He was raised in Lincolnshire, where his parents moved when he was four. As a lad was desperate to be a pilot.

‘I got a scholarship to do officer training in the RAF to be a fighter pilot. Then they discovered that my eyes were slightly imbalanced. That means you can’t be a pilot. The dream died, aged 16.’

Instead, Pete took a technical apprenticeship at a breakdown and recovery garage. ‘That was the start of my career in the motor industry. Working in breakdown also taught me about customer experience. You are dealing with the most distressed individuals.’

 

He left to join a big Toyota dealer in the Midlands, quickly becoming a master technician. Pete moved to the South Coast in 2003, when he joined Westover, working in its Land Rover dealership in Christchurch. In less than a year, he moved into service management, before becoming Westover’s Group Operations Director for Service, Parts and Quality. He was in that role when Hendy bought Westover.

‘I felt very positive about the takeover. So did other Westover colleagues who saw the advantages of being part of a bigger, fast-moving operation. You need scale to succeed in this business, and at the time of takeover, Hendy was twice the size of Westover.’

Pete’s career prospered at Hendy. He became Group Service and Bodyshop Director and now oversees 45 sites. He’s responsible for all vehicle servicing and the bodyshop over all franchises.

 

‘It’s very customer focused. The service and repair world is complicated and the major difference is that nobody wants to be there. It’s the retail equivalent of the dentist. So, we must have high levels of empathy and understanding. That’s why we take so much time to train the front-line team, through the Hendy Academy and other programmes.’

 

In his spare time, Pete is a keen cyclist – both mountain bike and road bike – and pool player. ‘I used to play pool for Dorset county and played five nights a week. As a boy I played snooker with my dad. Then I moved into pool.  Nowadays I play socially and would describe myself as somewhat rusty!’