A SHREWSBURY man has clocked up 40 years in the motor and agricultural trades – all with the same company.

The longest serving full time employee at Shukers Land Rover, Kevin Gough, completed the 40 year milestone on June 21.

He joined Shukers, of Battlefield Road, Shrewsbury, on leaving Meole Brace School in 1971 at the age of 16 – intending to complete an apprenticeship and then move on.

“My aim was to get trained up so that I could be a mechanic on a farm, as in those days Shukers was an agricultural as well as a vehicle dealership,” Kevin explained.

“I enjoyed my apprenticeship so much I decided to stay on and so never became a farm mechanic which was my original ambition.”

He spent three years as service manager in the mid-80s when Shukers was an agricultural dealership, but since 1998 he has collected and delivered Land Rover vehicles all over the country from Aberdeen to Lands End and West Wales to the Suffolk coast.

In addition to his logistics work for the dealership, he has an umbrella of responsibilities that include preparation for shows and events attended by Shukers of both Shrewsbury and Ludlow.

He arranges forecourt displays for Shukers in Shrewsbury and at their Bayston Hill shukers.com site. He also provides relief cover for the showroom as well as carrying out general maintenance and valeting.

“He’s Mr Versatile and a very valued member of the Shukers Land Rover sales team,” said sales manager Tony Macera. “I work closely with Kevin and it really is an asset to have someone so dependable in every task they are given to do.”

Kevin’s son Alan, 26, is a qualified technician at Shukers Land Rover, where he has worked since leaving school 10 years ago.

Kevin said: “I have been lucky enough to work with really good colleagues throughout the 40 years at Shukers.”

He and his wife Margaret, who live at Bayston Hill, also have a daughter Gillian, 30, who is a trainee nurse.