Everyone is (or, at the vey least, should be) trying to do their part in the fight to slow the deadly spread of COVID-19 and automakers are no exception. While and race to re-tool plants and re-train volunteer UAW workers to build respirators, Aston Martin is doing what it can to keep National Health Service workers around its UK headquarters at their critical posts.
President of Aston Martin Works Paul Spires told Twitter in a video over the weekend that the department devoted to servicing both new and classic Astons would now be devoted to fixing NHS workers’ vehicles free of charge.
From the video:
These are extreme times that we live in. Our NHS is doing a fantastic job to look after those in our community. They also rely on motor vehicles to take them to and from hospitals. We’re very aware a lot of garages have closed down. A lot of those [NHS] workers would probably rely on their friends and family to make sure that their cars are safe and reliable. What we’re doing here at Aston Martin Works is to open up an emergency repair service. This is not your routine servicing. These are the cars that are potentially going to let those key workers down, we’re here to support. We have technicians on site. We also have our after-sales team available on the telephone to talk to you about any concerns you may have. So please use us, call (phone and email) you will get through to somebody, we will be able to help you. We need our NHS workers to be able to support in our community.
There are currently 22,141 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the UK, with 1,408 deaths, according to the . While these deaths are tragic, the UK currently sits far below some other European nations and the government is taking drastic steps to prevent the collection of islands from becoming the next Italy, which surpassed a jaw-dropping 10,000 deaths earlier this week. Some have criticized police for being too zealous in their crackdown of potentially virus-spreading citizens. One police department even used drones to track down drivers who headed out to the scenic countryside for walks, an activity deemed “non-essential” the reports. Such strict guidelines are showing early signs of slowing down the virus, but it may be six more months before stringent lockdown conditions are totally lifted in the UK, according to .