BEN, the automotive charity has accepted £142,000 from Marshall's of Cambridge CEO for his jump from a plane.

• Industry Leader Challenge and skydive by Daksh Gupta raise £142,000
• Highlight of a year of fundraising for BEN, the charity dedicated to supporting the people of the automotive industry
• Donate online at 
• www.justgiving.com/Daksh-Gupta

One of the industry’s key business leaders has swapped the boardroom for the open skies, jumping out of a plane at over 10,000 feet to raise funds for BEN, the charity dedicated to supporting those working in the automotive industry.

Marshall Motor Holding’s CEO, Daksh Gupta, completed the jump as the pinnacle of a year of fundraising, in BEN’s first ever Industry Leader Challenge event.  

Conquering his fear of heights has paid off, as currently the fundraising total stands at £142,000. Daksh hopes that the total will reach £150,000 once the final pledges from the last few companies come in.

Daksh Gupta completed his tandem skydive on Friday 22^nd July, parachuting out of the plane at the Hinton Skydive Centre in Brackley, Northants. 

Speaking after the jump, Daksh said: “I must admit the worst thing is going up. I was having second thoughts up there but it was amazing. We actually jumped from 13,000 feet, not 10,000. 

On the way up I was thinking "crikey this is really high" and that's when your stomach goes. I can tell you I definitely wouldn't do it again. It was amazing but once is enough! When you come out of the plane you're actually doing 140 miles an hour freefall for about 50 seconds. 

You watch the earth come rapidly up to meet you and that's the worst part - then you’re praying for the parachute to open. I was definitely glad to be back on the ground afterwards. This had to be one of the highlights for me in terms of life experiences. It was amazing, but seriously, I'm never doing it again!”

Daksh is the first automotive industry leader to take on the Industry Leader Challenge which launched this year, in which an individual takes on a personal fundraising target over the course of a year, for BEN. 

Once completed they pass the baton on to the next automotive industry leader who then attempts to top the amount raised.

Along with the jump Daksh charged his dealership network to compete to raise cash for BEN, over a week of fundraising events which included team barbeques, a carnival, cycle rides, sponsored walks and a spinathon. 

Over 300 dealers, dealership groups, manufacturers, suppliers, financial services and individuals generously sponsored the challenge.

Daksh said:  “I have really enjoyed taking part in the first ever 

Industry Leaders Challenge event for BEN and I’m thrilled that we have raised such an impressive amount of money. 

The funds raised will directly help those working in the industry when they need it the most. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my colleagues for getting fully behind this campaign as well as to everyone who donated; I couldn’t have done it without you. 

Following the jump I received the very sad news that my mother had passed away. She always encouraged me to support charities and help people those less fortunate than me, so I’d like to dedicate this jump to her.”

Jools Tait, Business Development Director at BEN, said: “What a phenomenal achievement. Daksh you are a superstar and we can’t thank you and your sponsors enough!

“The funds raised will have a hugely positive impact, and will help BEN reach more people in the industry, allowing us to provide more practical support, advice and guidance to those who need it.  BEN relies on our industry’s support and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to this challenge.”

BEN has already identified the next leader who will take on a challenge in 2017 and this, and the final amount raised by Daksh, will be revealed at the annual BEN Ball at the Grosvenor House in December.

TMW - Marshall's Motor Group, how to lose sales and alienate people.

Today is the second busiest day of the year for car sales, each year the 1st of September and the 1st March are number plate change days, so it is no surprise to find that a number of new cars are going to be handed over to eager and happy new owners, but before anyone hands over any money there is the usual tooing and froing of haggling, and freebies and so on, before the dealer then tries to get you to take out finance and various other high price low value extras that can be had elsewhere for far far less than the finance and extra packages the dealers try their damned hardest to sell you.

It is here then that my experience with a large motor group begins, I was some while ago registered disabled and therefore was unable to do a lot of the usual things that i loved to do, track days, road tests etc until I stabilised enough to be able to drive comfortably again, I was given a benefit that enabled me to get a car on what is called the motability scheme, a scheme that gets people back on the road in cars more suitable for their needs, and it was this scheme that got me into my first motability car.

I collected my MINI Countryman 2.0 Cooper SD ALL4, now that's a mouthful, about 14 months ago, and initially it was fine, it wasn't until a few weeks later that my back and hips began to hurt again, and after trying to work out why, it always happened after i had driven the car, it turned out that the MINI dealer that allowed us to have an extended drive in a Countryman had failed, on purpose I suspect, to advise that, that car had the run flat tyres removed, and on my car they would be added.

Over the following months i drove the car less and less until I was advised to contact motability to see if they could help, and they did, they advised that I could hand back the MINI at a nominal fee to me £100 (admin charges) and I could then locate another car that would now be better suited to me new needs, this was brilliant, the two people I spoke with at motability could not have been more helpful and pleasant, so I decided to take my time and locate a number of vehicles through the Internet, car magazines and personal taste that I think might be suitable and then go from their.

Within the motability website it clearly states and I quote 

"To find out whether a car is suitable, it’s worth taking more than one test drive and to take your time during the session. A quick drive around the block may not be enough to get an idea of whether the car is right for you. It’s best to test out different types of roads, especially those you regularly use, including dual carriageways, minor roads with speed bumps and even places to park. If you regularly travel long distances, you will need a long test drive."

So off we went, I initially emailed a number of dealers Marshalls, Ford, Peugeot, Volvo Vindis Skoda and Cecil & Larter Volvo, all local dealers to me, the only one that ever got back to me was Vindis Skoda, and they refused point blank to allow me to have an extended test drive, stating their insurance does not cover it, but will sit beside me while i drove around, now don't get me wrong, for some that would be acceptable, but I don't like being in a car with car dealers as they talk to you and constantly want to point out the cars good points while getting you to avoid the poor points.

I get uncomfortable in the company of people I don't know, so driving with strangers does not make for a good combination, so I had to leave that, which was very unfortunate as I really liked the Skoda Yeti, and the 1.2 DSG SE would have been an ideal car, as long as was able to drive it comfortably, which I was not able to do, I have never come across ANY other dealer that wont do extended test drives especially for a motability customer.

Now on to Marshall's, for those not in the know, they are one of the biggest privately owned dealership chains in the UK, with many brands from Ford to Jaguar, Citroen to Land Rover and many more in between, the company started life in Cambridge and has the biggest multi-chain dealership area's with Land Rover, jaguar, Ford, Citroen, Volvo, SEAT, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, a used car site as well as commercial sales located behind the main sales area.

It has to be seen to be believed, and for the consumer it is great to have so much choice in a smallish area, but i digress, I visited all the dealers and narrowed it down to Ford and Volvo, I visited both, and spoke with sales staff at both, advised of what I wanted and why, both agreed that an extended drive would be no issue, but neither had the cars that i wanted to try, The Volvo V40 Cross Country D2 auto, and the Ford B-Max Titanium powershift and C-Max Powershift.

Both dealers agreed that they could get a car/s for me to try and that was that, I thought great, can't wait, I got an email later in the day from the Ford dealer with a C-Max brochure attached which I was aware would be coming, and that gave me plenty to read along with the B-Max literature I was given there, I was also given the V40 CC booklet to read whilst i waited for a car to arrive.

So I thought right, all I need to do now is wait to hear from the dealers, they have all my details, all my requirements, so there should be no issues, how wrong could I be, I got a call from the Volvo dealer the next day, asking why i visited the day before, and could he assist, I suppose it didn't help when he said he had no idea why I called in, and had no details about my visit, less than 24 hours previously, he was not aware that a car was being sourced for me to try or even that I was a motability customer, he said that he would locate the details and call me right back, that was nearly two weeks ago.

Ford on the other hand, was ok initially, i again advised what i needed and why, and the young lady said that she could locate the relevant cars for me to test, she even got online to show that these cars were available, she gave me the relevant costs involved, and was more than happy to assist, as I said above i got an email with the C-Max info attached, and that has been that, not a peep since, and again that was nearly two weeks ago.

The Ford dealership at Cambridge Marshall's used to be Rover-MG and I purchased a brand new MG ZS their back in 2004, the salesman  then was not to bright to be honest, he tried to fob off a damaged car (bonnet was dented) and said that if we waited he would swap with another one they had, WHAT, you serious, try and fob it off on another customer, was not happy, needless to say I did not do that and they never fixed it at first service like they said they would, I should have realised that, that dealership was not up to snuff.

Today 01/09/2013 we went for a walk, as it helps keep my muscles and other bits and pieces active, along the Marshalls dealerships, we popped into Volvo to see if the person i saw originally was there, which they were not, but the three guys in there, inspired little, they looked miserable and we never had a smile out of any of them, so we left and tried the new SEAT Leon, a lovely looking car, but i could not get in or out of it with ease, but the salesman there tried his best to gloss over that fact and encouraged us to buy the car.

Um, no, I cant get in or out without discomfort or without ease, so no, I am not getting this car, at which point he just walked away, no thank you, or if there is anything else etc, just walk away mid sentence, how bloody rude is that. I was losing the will to live by now, with rude salesmen, and three that really did not want to be there, let alone have anything to do with a customer, we walked past Citroen and got a hello and can we help, which we politely declined, but we still got a sweetie each.

Then to Ford, as We got to the wide opened door, I saw the salesman that sold me my MG, he saw me and slammed the door to the office he was in and the guy he was talking to turned to look our way and laughed, so Marshall's Ford, you can get stuffed, your attitude is diabolical, your staff are rude and ignorant and as far as I am concerned I will advise anyone that asks to avoid you, I am a customer, I have caused you no issues, I have never complained about you, or made any comments that would cause such rudeness.

The only thing that you did I did not like was to try and fob me off with damaged products and then to get round it swap it with someone else's car so they have a damaged one, and that's just not on, so i declined, on the assumption you would repair it which you never ever did, how is that these people are still employed, why is that the customer has to put up with such blatant rudeness, and why is that these dealers at marshall;;s never do what they say they are going to do.

For a supposed family run business, it is more like a couldn't care less about the customer business, and for someone that has issues which require specific needs it makes the whole episode stressful and one that now requires me to go further afield to get a car that i should be able to get just two minutes up the road,.