Cherie & Derek Holden, Newport
My husband and I are having a couple of days’ break in Brunswick Heads on our drive home from Noosa to Sydney.
Yesterday while driving around Bangalow our car suddenly stopped, showing the red light for oil. We managed to get into a small local garage called Bangalow Automotive Repairs. The young woman attendant, Linda, called on the onsite mechanic, Don, to advise on the correct oil to put in our car. He took one look at the car and said it shouldn’t be driven anywhere as the engine would seize up.
After many, many lengthy phone calls to NRMA Roadside Assistance, NRMA Insurance, KIA specialist garages in Ballina and Lismore (neither of these could even look at the car until the end of next week) we were in despair.
We are in our late 70s and I cannot praise enough the overwhelming kindness and encouragement shown to us by the two staff at this tiny garage. Don said to give him 15 minutes and he would take a look at it so we at least knew what to tell the specialist garages. This dear man had it up on his workshop hoist within 15 minutes and two hours later he had it fixed and back on the road.
In the meantime Linda was keeping me occupied and de-stressing me between customers. These two strangers showed us such kindness and when I think of the cost and stress we would have incurred if we had had the car towed to Lismore or Ballina, and had to stay for a week in a motel just to have it looked a,t then repaired, it is almost frightening.
If Don had not shown his good nature by offering a quick look at our car we would have been in deep trouble. We may not have seen all the local sights Bangalow has to offer, but we encountered great local support and generosity. If there is a local award of any kind we would like to nominate these two people, Don and Linda of Bangalow Automotive.
