A SKELMERSDALE man has become the youngest person in the country to gain a prestigious industry accreditation.
Craig Wignall, a former pupil at Ormskirk School, now holds ATA VDA status (Automotive Technical Accreditation, Vehicle Damage Assessor) – the autobody repair industry’s equivalent of Corgi registration.
This means the 19-year-old, who works at the Karl Vella Group’s headquarters in Gillibrands, Skelmersdale, can carry out high quality and trusted assessment on vehicles which have been in road traffic collisions and accidents.
Craig, who started with the Karl Vella Group straight from school, said: “I’m really proud to be the youngest person in the country to have the ATA VDA accreditation. The test itself was really tough as the standard is exceptionally high, but to be the youngest person in the country to have it is very humbling.”
Alongside Craig during the test was fellow Group colleague Matthew Vella, 20, from Southport, who also passed - putting him as the third youngest person in the UK to have this high level of accreditation.
Both Craig and Matthew came through the Karl Vella Group’s own internal company training programme for estimators.
David Vella, Group Operations Director for the Karl Vella Group, said: “We are delighted for both Craig and Matthew, even more so because they are people who have been with the Group since they left school, and it is brilliant to see them develop.
“Over the years, we have found it increasingly difficult to recruit the right kind of estimators, so we embarked on our own training programme whereby a school leaver was given the chance to become a fully-fledged estimator."
“In a way it was very similar to an apprenticeship. The first 12 months of their training was spent in the workshop working alongside technicians while for the next 12 months they would get involved with the general administration in the department and the adding of customer & vehicle details to our systems. Over the third and fourth years, they would learn the skills necessary to become an estimator, starting with small jobs and obvious total losses and then progressing on to being able to carry out estimates on the most complex repair."
“During their training, both Craig and Matthew have both worked exceedingly hard and as a company we are rightfully proud of their outstanding achievements."
“Good training combined with an individual’s passion to learn will always produce results; Craig and Matthew are testament to that.”