A GARAGE owner who has earned the nickname “Honest Joe” is celebrating 40 years of trading in Basildon.

Joe Hodgetts, 59, loved cars from an early age and set up his garage, Oakdene Autos, when he was just 19.

Mr Hodgetts said: “I was born in Pitsea when it was just bungalows and unmade roads.

“We lived down Oakdene Road and we were the last bungalow there.

“I was one of six kids and I was always interested in cars and lorries, although we didn’t have a car.

“My mum and dad were good people with good values and because everyone along the road was quite elderly - to us as kids they were in their hundreds - it was up to us children to make sure the road was always passable.”

The children would put ash and hardcore to fill the potholes along the unmade road and it was while doing this at the age of 12 that Mr Hodgetts decided to get a van which would enable him to steamroller over their work and make it look nicer.

He bought a Standard 10 Van for £3 and, although at 12 he couldn’t drive it on the road, he was able to drive it on the unmade road and in the surrounding fields.

From there, be went on to buying cars and bought tools and books so he could repair them.

He left school at 15 and took an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering.

He set up his garage in Lexton Road in Laindon at 19 and built up a customer base.

Demand was high and he outgrew the unit there, moving to Bowlers Croft.

The company now has two bases, a body repair unit in Wash Road and an MoT centre in Cranes Close.

Mr Hodgetts has customers who have been with him through the 40 years and also has three generations of the same family as clients.

His reputation of not ripping people off has earned him the nickname of “Honest Joe”.

He said: “Unfortunately, garages do have a bad reputation but it isn’t hard - what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong.”