Most get jobs back as St Martin's Garage reopens

ST MARTIN'S GARAGE reopened for business yesterday. Nearly all of the staff formerly employed there by stricken Five Oaks have been taken back on by new owner Jacksons. And Jacksons owner Tom Scott has secured all Ford Premier Brands: Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. A manager at Jacksons in Jersey said that the company expected to acquire the Peugeot and Citroen franchises by the end of this week. As of yesterday, 45 of the 100 staff employed in Guernsey by collapsing Five Oaks had been employed by Jacksons. Of the 250 across the Channel Islands fearing for their job, 162 have been taken back on. It is understood that St Martin's Garage general manager Gary Rouget was given carte blanche to hand-pick his new team. 'The staff have been absolutely magnificent and totally loyal,' said Mr Rouget. 'Everyone turned up for work, even though we did not know if we were going to be paid. And there was a great spirit of camaraderie as the team pulled together throughout this challenging period. 'None of us could foresee a situation where our brands would not be represented in some shape or form in the future.' Mr Scott will plough about £7m. into resuscitating the ex-Five Oaks franchises. St Martin's stock of cars was moved to sites around the island last week - including the car park of Hotel Jerbourg - but the garage expects to be fully operational again in about two weeks. Staff were yesterday rebooking cars due for a service. 'We sell cars, order parts and service cars,' said Mr Rouget. 'Jacksons has excellent knowledge of the local motoring business and is on a sound financial footing. The Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brands are very complementary acquisitions to their existing portfolio of German prestige cars.' The Social Security Authority revealed yesterday that 46 claims were made for unemployment benefit by laid-off Five Oaks workers at Landes du Marche, Ruette Braye and St Andrew's. These accounted for 50% of the month-on-month increase of those signing on. Mr Scott said that Five Oaks had a debt of about £750,000 with one manufacturer and its wage bill was more than £400,000 a month. The first of what is expected to be a long list of creditors seeking money from Five Oaks was in Jersey's Royal Court on Saturday to try to recover £31,000 for work for which he had not been paid. Five Oaks alleged that some of the work had not been good enough, but the court rejected those claims and granted judgement.