Championing our relationships – Gray & Adams and David Payne & Son (Coachbuilders) Ltd Long term partner, and approved Gray & Adams repairer, David Payne & Son (Coachbuilders) Ltd have been carefully looking after our Southern customers’ repairs since the early 1980s. With both businesses having milestone anniversaries in 2022, a 50th anniversary for David Payne & Son and our own 65th Anniversary, we thought it would be a great time to sit down with Managing Director, Chris Payne, to discuss the long-standing relationship. Tell us about the relationship you have with Gray & Adams and how it has been beneficial to the businesses
Tell us a bit about the business and your role? The business was set up by my parents and myself in 1972. I was working for a very small bodybuilding company. It became apparent that company was failing so, after a family discussion, we decided to purchase the business. We soon discovered that there was a big and growing demand for repairs to bodywork and especially refrigerated bodywork. It made perfect sense to adapt, and we have been carrying out repairs for our customers ever since!
We were repairing more and more refrigerated vehicles and would source parts directly from Gray & Adams at Fraserburgh, but the relationship really developed in the 1980s when a larger repair to replace a whole side panel was required. My father and Lewis Gray Snr discussed the best way to facilitate this repair and he invited my father and I, with a few members of staff, up to Fraserburgh to take part in Gray & Adams’ specific training and a tour of their facilities. It was then agreed that David Payne & Son would be recognised as a Gray & Adams approved repairer which has been very beneficial to our business to be associated with such a prestigious industry name.
We’ve grown significantly over the last 50 years. At first, it was just my parents and I with three or four men in our workshop, but with the market demand, we have grown into a business of around 30 full time staff. It was with this projected growth in mind that we purchased our current premises in 1980 and adjacent premises in 1990 which enabled us to expand.
Gray & Adams reputation for quality is well known, so we were very proud that they demonstrated their faith in us. In turn, we have provided them with an enhanced presence in the South of England.
My role in the business has changed over the years. I started as a trainee coach builder, then transferred to the paint shop which gave me varied experience of the shop floor. I then became General Manager and for the last 30 years, since my parents’ retirement, Managing Director.
65th Anniversary
6
www.gray-adams.com
