A FAMILY firm is celebrating 50 years of vehicle repairs.

Tressler Coachworks, based in Uckfield, has been built up to become one of Sussex’s leading independent repair centres.

The company has put tens of thousands of vehicles back on the road.

Owner Jim Manning started the firm as a one-man-band in his dad’s garage near Henfield – and has grown the business to employ 30 people. Jim trained as a civil engineer and coupled his skills with his passion for cars.

The company has survived three recessions and moved to Uckfield’s Bellbrook Industrial Estate from Balcombe 40 years ago.

Jim said: “A great strength is that we’ve always tried to be innovative and never afraid to do something a bit different.

“We were the first body shop in the town to have a paint oven, the first in the area to use body jigs and we’ve adopted other technologies such as a paint recycling system, all before they were commonplace.”