DRIVER Harry O'Byrne was expecting to run into trouble when he returned his Toyota Carolla to the garage complaining of rust.

There were just two weeks left on the vehicle's corrosion warranty and Mr O'Byrne was concerned that he might be left with a hefty bill.

But to his amazement the repairs manager, Steve Howarth, at RRG Toyota on Radcliffe Road, Bolton, decided that the rust on the tailgate required immediate attention.

Mr O'Byrne, of Elsworth Drive, Astley Bridge, said: "The repairs manager said that he had good news and bad news for me. The bad was that they needed my car for longer and the good was that they were going to replace the tailgate rather than just patch it."

Mr O'Byrne said that through the BEN he wanted to praise the firm who sold him the car as new six years ago. He added: "You hear so much bad publicity so I thought it would make a change to praise one that had done a good job."

RRG Toyota's general manager, Mr Peter Smyth, said: "We really do have a philosophy that the customer comes first. Perhaps that is because we are a family-based business."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.