A MERCEDES Benz mechanic from Warminster proved himself among the country's best when tested in a mystery shopping exercise.

Kris Barnard, a Service24h emergency breakdown technician at Westbury Mercedes-Benz dealership Rygor Commercials, was one of the quickest to repair a broken down van.

The test was devised by Mercedes Benz to check skills at its dealers.

Mr Barnard had no idea he was being tested, but passed.

He said: "We got a call from someone saying their van had broken down at a motorway service station. I was on duty so I went straight round.

"The vehicle was a new Mercedes Vito van, and this was soon after the model was launched so I'd hardly done any work on one before.

"Luckily I was able find the fault very quickly and repair it almost straight away, and had them on their way just half an hour after they'd called me out."

He has just bought an old Mercedes 190 saloon car and is in the process of restoring it.