Luke Laurence, a sales executive at the Crown Suzuki dealership in North London, has been named the National Garage Star in The Motor Ombudsman’s 2023 Star Awards.
The annual accolades recognise individual team members and accredited businesses from across The Motor Ombudsman’s Motor Industry Codes of Practice that have gone above and beyond, and shown true acts of kindness to help customers.
Luke, who has been working at the Hendon showroom for nearly four years, was presented with the prize in the Star Awards competition at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute’s (CTSI) prestigious Hero Awards ceremony held at the Houses of Parliament in London.
In addition, the Crown Suzuki employee received £1,000 worth of shopping vouchers in recognition of his triumph.
Nearly 3,200 nominations – short accounts highlighting an exemplary level of service delivered by a business or one of its staff members – were submitted by customers across the UK, a record high for the Star Awards.
From the entries that were received, a shortlist of just 24 businesses and individuals across eight regions in the UK was compiled by The Motor Ombudsman.
The finalists were then put to a four-strong panel of judges from across a variety of organisations, to determine the eight regional winners for 2023.
- North: Ian Gibbs, senior customer experience specialist at Kendal Honda (Cumbria)
- South: Luke Laurence, sales executive at Crown Suzuki (Hendon, London)
- East: Dean Lovell, motability specialist at Wings ŠKODA Peterborough (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire)
- West: Cadley Garage (Marlborough, Wiltshire)
- The Midlands: Vertu Honda Mansfield (Nottinghamshire)
- Northern Ireland: Donnelly & Taggart Ballymena (County Antrim)
- Scotland: Jonathan Bulloch, master technician at Henrys Honda (Glasgow, Lanarkshire)
- Wales: Garej Arwyn Cyf (Caernarfon, Gwynedd)
In what emerged as a very competitive southern region, Luke Laurence was unanimously chosen by judges to receive the trophy out of the final three contenders in this category.
Luke was commended for going above and beyond during the purchase of a vehicle by a customer who had recently moved from another country, and where English was not their native language.
To crown this year’s overall National Garage Star, judges brought together the nominations from the eight regional Garage Star trophy holders – made up of individual team members at four dealerships, two car showrooms, and two independent garages.
These winning submissions were then reassessed on their own merits, and standing out from the group of eight finalists was Luke Laurence, with the judging panel collectively agreeing that he should be the National Garage Star for 2023.
Luke Laurence, sales executive at Crown Suzuki, said: “I am delighted to have won both a regional trophy and the highest accolade in this year’s Star Awards out of the thousands of nominations submitted by customers during the past few months.
“I always make a point of doing whatever I can to ensure the highest level of customer service and satisfaction, and I am very honoured to have been publicly recognised for my hard work and dedication to my role.
“In addition, to have received the awards at the Houses of Parliament, at such a prestigious ceremony, makes this a very memorable and special achievement.”
Bill Fennell, chief ombudsman and managing director of The Motor Ombudsman, explained: “We would like to congratulate Luke on being this year’s National Garage Star and the trophy winner for the South.
“Both awards are very well deserved after demonstrating an exceptional level of customer service. His relentless pursuit of going the extra mile and determination to think outside the box to find the best possible solution for the consumer made Luke a very worthy champion.”
For more information on The Motor Ombudsman, visit www.TheMotorOmbudsman.org.
