Meet The Twells of Billinghay Team
Twells of Billinghay History
Twells of Billinghay began when Fred Twells started his original business in 1928 as a Blacksmith. He then later began repairing and modifying cars and lorries before becoming a Ford Retailer in 1938. Fred also owned several buses and transported local people around the county and became well known with his "Flying Fox" bus in which he took Billinghay Athletic FC all around Lincolnshire! Fred later moved into Haulage and building up a large fleet of some 29 lorries, but was then nationalised by the government in 1954. Fred with his two sons Edward and Charles ,undeterred started up again with a Ferguson Tractor Franchise in 1957 and this carried on until the late 1960's when grandson John(our semi retired MD) joined the family business from Grammar School to do the accounts. After some five years car mad John persuaded father Ted and uncle Charles (with his mother’s help) to move the business into car repairs/Mots and Used Car Sales. After enjoying some small success Twells were offered the British Leyland Franchise in 1972 and were later able to win the prestigeous Vauxhall Main Dealership Franchise for central Lincolnshire re-opening in July 1980. Twells have been proud to represent the Vauxhall Brand for some 44 years next year and now with their latest exciting range of Electric, Hybrid and Combustion Enginered Cars and Vans along with an enlarged market area to represent we look forward to many more years in partnership with Vauxhall and the Stellantis Group.
Twells are a 4th generation family business that has been established for well over 100 years. We are so proud to have won the prestigeous Vauxhall Customer Excellence Award for each year that it has been running coming in Number 1 spot many times.
With well over 110 years Vauxhall experience between them our crack team of Mechanics are always here to keep you on the road.
Directors
John Twells: (Managing Director)
John Twells is our current Retail Operator/MD and is responsible for changing the direction of Twells from Agricultural to Motors in the early 1970s. John and his wife Marjorie have won many awards and holidays from Vauxhall over the last 40 years and he is still as passionate about cars and Vauxhall as a brand as he was when the first Vauxhall cars arrived at Billinghay in June 1980. John is so very proud of his company achieving the goal of 100 years old (last year) and all of his staff for gaining nine consecutive Customer Excellence Awards from Vauxhall, and is passionate about Customer Service. John is President of South Kyme Golf Club, and has been heavily involved with this local golf club for many years.
Marjorie Twells: (Company Secretary)
Marjorie married John in 1970 and became Company Secretary two years later. Marjorie still works every morning in the Accounts department looking after credit control and various other administrative roles. Marjorie is a keen gardener and flower arranger and when she is not at work can usually be found keeping their garden in immaculate condition and spending time with grand daughter Jessica.
Sarah Short: (Company Accountant)
Sarah joined the Company in 2006 after attending HullUniversity and spending a few years learning the Motor Trade away from Twells. Sarah is the 4th Generation of the Twells family to work at the dealership and John and Marjorie are extremely proud to have Sarah to take the business on. Sarah has carried out several roles since coming back to Twells including Service Receptionist, Warranty Administrator and also Sales Administrator. She is now our Company Accountant. Sarah has a daughter Jessica who is 16 years old and will hopefully one day become the 5th generation of the Twells family business.
Daniel Short: (Sales Director)
Dan joined the company in 2014 and brought with him a wealth of knowledge and motor trade experience gained from 10 years with a Main Dealer group in Boston where he had worked his way up from Junior Salesman to General Sales Manager. Dan who is married to Sarah is part of our award winning Sales team along with Andrew Wells and John Dodd.
Sales Team
Andrew Wells: (Sales Manager and Motability Specialist)
Andrew joined Twells in 1998 as a Sales consultant and was promoted to Sales Manager in 2001. Andrew has a wealth of knowledge, greater than anyone else within the dealership about all things Vauxhall. He is our “go to man” if anyone has a challenging question. Andrew has won many national Vauxhall awards including Sales Manager of the year in 2005, Andrew is also one of our Motability Specialists and is the main reason that Twells have won Motability awards in the past..
John Dodd: (New, Used Car Sales and Motability Specialist)
John joined the team from a main dealer group in Boston in 2017 having previously worked with Dan for a number of years. John has over 18 years experience in the motor trade having worked for three of the biggest car franchises in the UK. John is our other Motability Specialist along with Andrew and is always first to arrive in the showroom each morning.
Aftersales Team
Tom Reeson: (Aftersales Manager)
Tom has worked for Twells for over 25 years since he left school and has worked predominantly in the Service / Warranty Department in a number of roles. Tom is responsible for the Service and Parts Department as well as overseeing the body shop operation and is ably assisted by Gary, Gareth and Mitchell. He is a keen Liverpool fan but we try not to hold that against him too much. Tom and his wife have twin girls who are at secondary school and have been building and racing electric cars at school making the national final in 2019 at Silverstone!. The family keep Tom very busy when not at work.
Gary Hornby: (Parts Manager)
Gary is another” Lifer” (that is working during school holidays and then coming back to work full time later) as we like to call them here at Twells. Gary worked for us before going off to university and gaining a first in English Language and then returning to the fold on completion of his degree. Gary has spent all his time in the After sales Department and has been our Parts Manager now for around six years. Gary is also our IT expert, being technically very able, and can often be heard muttering the words "have you tried turning it off and on again"
Gareth Hart (Aftersales Advisor)
Gareth joined the team in March 2021 after gaining a raft of customer service experience through his previous role managing a number of Convenience stores in the Lincoln area. Gareth will be one of the first people you see when visiting the delership and his friendly face and welcoming nature fits in perfectly with the Twells ethos.
Mitchell Harris (Aftersales Advisor)
Mitchell jopined us in May 2023 after managing a number of retail stores in the Grantham area and also working for the online car retailer Cazoo where he was responsible for imaging vehicles and general customer service roles. Mitchell has fitted straight into the team and is currently working towards his Vauxhall accreditations.
Mechanics
Paul Davis (Technician and MOT Tester)
Paul is our Gold Standard Master Technician and has worked for Twells for over 20 years and has great expertise and experience dealing with complex and challenging problems. Paul is also a qualified MOT tester.
James Killick (Technician and MOT Tester)
James has been with us since 2014 (after finishing at Boston Tech) when he joined us as an apprentice Technician. He is now a qualified MOT tester and hides himself away in our “High Tech” Heavy Van Testing Centre in “Unit One”in nearby West Street.
Eddie Smith (Technician and MOT tester)
Eddie joined in early 2018 and is a very experienced and willing member of the team. Nothing is too much trouble for Eddie when given any job.
Mark Steele (Technician, Bodyshop and MOT tester)
Mark has worked for Twells for well over 30 years and he started with us in our Bodyshop and then moved on to become a Technician. Mark is our “go to man” for any electrical issues he looks after the Bodyshop and is also an MOT Tester. Mark is our Twells celebrity, being the lead singer in the very well known local band the “Stolen Fridays”.
Mark Waby (Technician)
Mark joined us in 2022 and has quickly become our go to guy for anything non Vauxhall having ran his own independent garage and gaining a huge experience in all other makes and models of cars. Mark has prebviously been a Master Technician at another Main Dealership in Lincoln so his experience and knowledge is a huge asset to Twells.
Admin / Support Staff
Jackie Groom
Jackie joined our Sales team in 2017 as our Sales Administrator and has the unenviable job of making sure the sales consultants get their paperwork correct every time!. Jackie had previously worked with Dan and John in Boston and has many years motor trade experience.
Penny Gilbert
Penny has been with us for well over 10 years and makes sure the Showroom and the rest of the Office building is always looking spick and span. Penny loves to help out wherever possible and is the first person we go to when we need a volunteer for any other job.