Mr. A. Jeffery

Perranarworthal

CORNWALL

I have known Bryan and Sue Symons for over 40 years in the capacity of a customer and in turn they have been a customer of mine at Lucas Service UK Ltd. During this time they have been happily trading under the name Renault Auto Care at North Grange Industrial Estate at Devoran, near Truro in Cornwall; servicing and repairing not only Renaults, but various other makes of vehicles.

I was amazed therefore to learn that they have now, after all these years, been asked to change their trading name to Devoran Auto Care. It appears that someone reported Renault Auto Care to Renault UK and subsequently Bryan had a solicitor’s letter from the legal department at Renault UK to say that after many years they could no longer trade using the name Renault within their company name.

As a result of this, Bryan and Sue have had to change letterheads, invoices, business cards, bank accounts and informing Company House etc. - costing a considerable amount of time and money to do so. Bryan has said he was sorry to lose the name he has built his business and reputation on; he feels that the change of name will not affect the business as they have a very strong customer base.

Also it appears that another company in Cornwall trading with Renault in their company name also received a letter from Renault warning them to change their name.

This is a typical case of a BIG company using their power and money to scare off the small business, what is Renault so scared of ?

Mr Andy Jeffery

Lucas Service UK Ltd Manager (retired)