In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
Good for him, great to keep an independant business going for so long in this day & age. If he gets any bigger Tesco will want to buy him out.
I'm assuming he's the same chap who gave me a lift back to North Kent from Chamonix in 1980, in an old Mini van. It broke down in, I think, Canterbury, in front of a fire station. We were promptly surrounded by firemen saying we couldn't park there. After explaining the situation they pushed the car into their yard & easily got it going again.
Sadly the journey ended when I got home to find out that a friend had been killed in a particularly bad accident on the Tour Ronde while I'd been out there & I hadn't known about it.
Dick - thanks again for the lift, & well done with the business.