FIELD’S Car Centre has raised £2,000 for Woking Hospice by donating £5 from every MoT fee throughout June and July.

Not only did the scheme help the charity – whose income has been badly hit by the coronavirus restrictions – but it meant the garage confounded expectations of a drop-off in the number of MoTs and exceeded those it did last year.

Mike Fields, one of the directors, said the garage in Goldsworth Road, Woking, remained open during lockdown.

“It was a stressful period, balancing the health and safety of staff and customers,” Mike added.

“We had to deal with many challenges and many people were self-isolating or being furloughed.

“We know of many garages that closed for many weeks, even months. Whilst we were seeing our workload reduced, we could at least keep most staff in work.”

Mike said that the government’s six-month extension of MoT expiry dates led to fears that the garage’s income would suffer, with some predictions of a 70% reduction in the number of vehicles being tested.

“We came up with the bright idea of giving £5 to Woking Hospice for each MoT that came in. It just seemed the right thing to do,” Mike said.

“To our surprise, we found most people who could get out and drive, still wanted to have the MoT as per usual.

“In June, we almost matched the same number as 2019 and in July we did more MoTs than last year.”

Mike said the increase in business is a mystery but thought that the words in the Bible: “Give and it shall be given” were possibly relevant. “Who knows? All I know is we were blessed,” he added.

Fields has decided to continue supporting the hospice for the rest of the year with donations of £1 from each MoT