Mechanic called out to Spain

It only took Mr Griffths a few hours to fix the car

A Welsh mechanic got the ultimate call-out when a regular customer flew him out to Spain to fix his car.

Colin Griffiths, from Haverfordwest, jetted out to Alicante when Chris Jenkins' Vauxhall Corsa started misfiring.

Local Spanish mechanics had told Mr Jenkins there would be a long delay, and a hefty price, before they could work on the car.

So Mr Jenkins asked his trusted mechanic back home if could do the job quicker and cheaper.

Mr Griffiths explained that Mr Jenkins had taken his car out to the Costa Blanca after buying a property out there.

"He had a few problems with the car when he was getting back to the airport," he said.

"He took it to a local garage over there - they couldn't look at it for six weeks and told him it would be an estimate of £800.

Mr Griffiths made the trip to Alicante from Haverfordwest

"So when he came back [to Wales], he told us the problems and said 'Would you be willing to come over with me?'"

Mr Griffiths said he worked out he was able to beat the price and also get a holiday into the bargain.

"The expansion bottle was leaking down onto the electrics, shorting things out and causing it to misfire," he said.

"It took four days to get the parts, and two to three hours to fix it," he said.

After that, he was able to enjoy the sun.

"I had a very good jolly-up," he said.

He said he was willing to make the trip because Mr Jenkins had been a regular visitor to his garage.

"He has been a very good customer in the past so we tried to help as best we could," he said.

After his unusual call, Mr Griffiths has not ruled out making more long distance trips in the future, should any of his customers get into difficuties while away from home.