Jonathan Leach

Owner/Director

Jonathan started working in the motor trade when he was 12 years old as a Saturday and Holiday boy and learnt to drive in a 911 aged 13. He spent his early years at a specialist dealer where his love for Porsche began. In 1987, he branched out and started Cridfords originally in the Weybridge area then moving to Ripley then now in Ewhurst gathering important key members of staff with expert skills to further the business for service as well as sales.

He spent his youth driving, racing (and crashing) cars motorcycles and boats, but now sticks to pedal power can be found covered in mud and sweat riding his mountain bike in the Surrey Hills (and still crashing!) Favourite car – ’87 911 Super Sport

Michael Watkins

General Manager

Michael moved from Yorkshire to the south in 2003 to study Music Production at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. He started with Cridfords in 2005 as the car valeter and after watching the sales team he quickly began helping out on busy Saturdays and decided this was what he wanted to do going forward.

For the next few years he worked as a sales executive until leaving albeit briefly to be Business Manager at a volume dealership. Shortly after this he came back to Cridfords as Sales Manager and eventually progressed to General Manager in 2019. Michael has a keen interest in music and used to be lead singer and guitarist in a band. He is a keen mountain biker, dabbles in the gym but is at his happiest hiking over a mountain… or to the nearest pub at least. Favourite car – 981 Boxster S Manual

Alex Hawkins

Detailing and Prep Centre

Alex came to us from a few different trades including kitchen and bathroom fitting and working for BT, following this he came to us and very quickly it became evident that he had an eye for detail, the processes we’d taught him just weren’t good enough so he spent lots of his personal time improving and honing his skills to reach perfection something he continues to do to this day.

Alex is responsible for making our cars, and our customers cars, look as good as they possibly can. He evaluates every car that goes through the dealership and prepares it for sale whether it be wheel refurbs, scratch removal or the odd panel of paint he’ll make sure it is up to standard, if you then have your car detailed with him you won’t believe the results. He is also responsible for the training of the whole detailing team.

Alex is a successful middle distance runner for Epsom & Ewell Harriers but will run a marathon occasionally. He is also a keen golfer and recently go a hole in one in a competition winning a holiday! He is a Japanese car enthusiast having owned several examples over the years. Favourite car – Nissan Skyline

Mark Casey

Head Technician

Mark has been working in automotive service since he was 16 years old and joined Cridfords in 2013. Mark has a great grasp of mechanical knowledge on many models and he specialises in major Porsche engine rebuilds from Cayenne’s to 911’s. He tells us he can rebuild any Porsche engine blindfolded – don’t worry we haven’t tested him on this! Mark is responsible for all our special projects such as project Oranges, project 996 GTS and our current project Kermit.

In his spare time, around his family, he loves to mountain bike and plays tennis regularly at Rudgwick tennis club. Favourite car – 997 Turbo

Rhys Still

Workshop Manager

Rhys came to us from BMW where he worked as a senior service advisor, he has been in the motor trade for over 20 years covering most roles on the service side of the industry. He is responsible for keeping our technicians on their toes and ensuring they are not taking too many tea breaks!

In his spare time Rhys is an avid motorsport enthusiast with Damon Hill being his all time hero, he loves playing football (unfortunately a Spurs supporter), going to the gym and supports Surrey County Cricket Club.

Sandra Gillett

Office Manager

Sandra gives a warm welcome to everyone who walks through the showroom doors, she keeps in contact with everyone who buys a car from us ensuring they have everything they need to put them at ease during the purchasing process. Sandra comes from a background of tour operations following her childhood dream of working in the travel industry. Following this Sandra worked at Canon in the MFD division for 15 years.

Sandra’s favourite pastime is watching her beloved Crystal Palace or ferrying her son around to play for his team. Sandra’s favourite car is a Toyota Landcruiser!

Joe Knight

Parts Advisor

Joe came to work with us after spending 10 years within the BMW Network in all sorts of roles. Joe is responsible for our parts department making sure that all parts are available for our stock cars and our service customers. He also needs to keep our very busy parts room stocked up for all eventualities.

Joe spends his spare time and weekends on track days in his Honda Civic, but he also works an experience day company doing on track instruction, which he loves. He is a massive fan of F1, his all-time track hero being Ayrton Senna. Joes’ favourite car is a Maclaren F1.

Bev Knapman

Valeter

Bev or “Super Bev” as she is more commonly known within Cridfords is one of our valeting team members. She came to us after an illustrious career as a Probation Officer within the Police. Bev is very much a car fan, she has a couple of Toyota Celicas, a Boxster, and 2 VW Corrado’s – she has a very big driveway! Bev loves to spend her spare time tinkering with her cars, reading non-fiction and gardening, making her garden beautiful. Bev’s favourite car is a VR6 VW Carrado, which she has and loves and where most of her money goes!

Jill Rymer

Lee Van Praagh

Valeter

Lee has been with Cridfords for just under a year and has had a wide variety of roles in the past, more recently working with autistic children as their carer. Lee and the valet team are responsible for making our customers and stock cars look their very best before they are handed over. Lee also assists with our buying team collecting stock cars and helping out with our service team when they need, collecting and delivering our service cars, always with a smile on his face!

Lee is a bit of a homebody and loves nothing more than taking the dogs for a walk and relaxing with his family in his spare time. Lees favourite car is a Ford Mustang.

Steve Piggott

Technician

Steve is one of our most experienced techs having worked as a technician for an amazing 30 years! Steve started his career as an apprentice working for Lotus. After finishing his apprenticeship, he stayed working with Lotus for 13 years! Steve then worked at BMW and Audi for a couple of years before returning to Lotus for another long period. After spending so long at Lotus, Steve moved to Maclaren working on a multitude of cars including the McLaren P1! He spent the last 4 years at McLaren before coming to Cridfords. In his spare time Steve loves to spend time with his family but also likes canoeing, track days and going to the Rugby to watch his team play. Steve’s favourite car is a Mk1 VW Golf GTI

Rory McLennan

Lee Cordingley

Adriaan Sholtz

Adriaan is our South African member of our team having been with us for a short time, he has quickly become one of our comedians in the workshop.

Adrian started his career at Porsche Centre South Africa and was there for 3 years. He then he moved on to a multi franchise dealership which included Kia, Hyundai, Citroen, and Daihatsu. Needing a change he moved to Tubular Holdings, a South African Mining company where he became a Welding Inspector.

Ten years later Adriaan decided to up sticks and move to the UK where he ended up at a Mclaren Factory and eventually at Bell & Colvill. Adriaan loves Rugby and watching his native South Africa, also loves snowboarding, scuba diving and fixing/travelling in VW Campers.