TWO garage-owning brothers were hanging up their overalls today after 25 years in business.

Ron, 60 and Trevor Vockin, 74, owners of Ashton Auto Electrical Services, will leave their workshop in Faraday Road, Dorcan, for the last time tonight.

The family business, run with the assistance of Ron's wife Janet and Geoffrey Clemence, 69, specialised in electrical repairs to cars, lorries and coaches.

The brothers started their apprenticeship in the electrical trade with Gardiners of Commer-cial Road straight after leaving Commonweal School.

After learning the ropes they eventually branched out and leased premises on the Okus Industrial Estate before moving to Dorcan in 1977.

Ron, who lives in Priory Green, Highworth, with his wife Janet, 57, said: "The lease ran out on the premises we own here so it seemed a sensible time to go.

"At my age there seems little point in starting in a new job all over again.

"The industry is getting a lot more difficult, especially for old folks like us, with a lot more computerised equipment being fitted in cars.

"There is also a tendency to send vehicles back to the agents rather than to workshops like ours."

Cars like the Morris Minors, Morris Eight and Austin Seven were the bread and butter of the business when it first started.

In recent times it has been the BMW, Mercedes Benz and Porsche.

"The old cars were a lot easier to work on," added Ron. "Nowa-days cars are fitted with all sorts of proofing making it very hard to get to where you need to.

"The most difficult job I think we had to do was to rewire a coach after it had caught fire it took about a week to make sure everything worked properly.

"Apprenticeships and our line of business is a dying art these days. Children at school all seem to want to go into computers and there is no time for practical work. I'm looking forward to have a little bit of a rest, doing a spot of gardening and spending time with the wife."

The workshop will be taken over by Lex Autos.