FORD UK chairman Roger Putnam said his visit to Swindon was almost like coming home.

The recently appointed boss of the car giant's UK operation was in town for a first-hand look at his company's award-winning Motability and General Information Centre (Magic), which is at the Cellular Operations Centre in Hillmead.

Mr Putnam, 56, was in charge of Jaguar's racing programme for almost a decade and was a regular visitor to what was then the Piper's Way headquarters of Burmah Castrol, which was and still is heavily involved in motor racing.

Speaking about the Magic scheme he said: "Ford has had a firm commitment to the motability scheme since its inception nearly 25 years ago.

"The formation of Magic, which is ideally located here in Swindon, provides free information on driving with a disability to everyone in the UK, regardless of what make of car they drive.

"The centre does a first class job of providing an invaluable service for people who need help in a specialised area.

"This can be seen in that the staff of about 50 has taken more 160,000 calls since it opened two years ago.

"It is a great credit to us and to Swindon."