A 20-YEAR-OLD man from Southport has become youngest people in Britain to gain a prestigious industry accreditation.

Matthew Vella, who works for the Karl Vella Group on Cemetery Road, Southport, now holds ATA VDA status (Automotive Technical Accreditation, Vehicle Damage Assessor) – the autobody repair industry’s equivalent of Corgi registration.

His accreditation is the culmination of years of learning his trade at the Karl Vella Group’s sites in both Preston and Southport, as well as a gruelling day-long external exam.

Speaking about his success, Matthew said: “I’m really made up to be among the youngest in the UK to have this accreditation. It was a full day test, half a day being a written exam while the other half had us looking at three damaged vehicles which we had to assess thoroughly for repairs.

“It’s a very responsible job because you are assessing cars which have been in an accident but with a view to getting them back on the road, so in a way you’re not just repairing it, but also making sure it’s completely safe should it ever be involved in a collision in the future."

“The job of estimating has changed because a lot of what made up the structure of a car eight to 10 years ago are not used today; around 85% of the materials just don’t exist anymore so things are evolving all the time."

“The accreditation is renewed once every five years and that is good as it means people in the industry keep up with new technologies and repair solutions.”

Alongside Matthew during the test was fellow Group colleague Craig Wignall, 19, from Skelmersdale, who also passed. As a result, Craig is now the youngest person in the UK to have this high level of accreditation, with Matthew the third youngest.

Both Matthew and Craig 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 Matthew and Craig 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; Matthew and Craig are testament to that.”