– The GT roadside mechanics

It is a profession which will perhaps never lose customers with its practitioners are always in demand.
Hence, the sixteen mechanics who operate along High Street opposite the Ashmin’s building are considered some of the most sought after professionals in the country.
For years, vehicles have been lining up along the sides of the roadway in the area; some persons request an oil change, others call for a servicing of their brakes while entire engines are sometimes overhauled at the location.

“It’s like a mobile workshop; if you going to Mahdia, Puruni or anywhere in town we find you.”

“You name it, we fix it,” said Dexter Smith, considered the man in charge.” He always has the final say as to when a task is considered done. “He got to say if the work well done,” said a customer.
Smith has been working at the area for past 10 years. He told the Guyana Chronicle that he was among the first who started working at the site. “It’s like a mobile workshop; anywhere you break down – if you going to Mahdia, Puruni anywhere in town – we find you,” Smith said.

The trade at the location started with the buses which ply the Hinterland routes from the capital city including the route 72 and 94 buses which travel to Mahdia and Lethem, respectively. They would be serviced at the location before they leave for their respective destinations. But as time rolled by the services offered at the site saw all types of vehicles rolling–up to be fixed.
As the midday sun beamed on the area on Friday, a Toyota Rav 4 pulled up, the driver of the well-polished vehicle requested a service and he is told to park across the road as a young mechanic readies his tool kit. Further up the line, three buses which ply the Georgetown-Mahdia route were being fixed; the mechanics are all young men in their teens and some in their mid-twenties.

At the moment there are seven “trainees” at the site, young men who recently left school or persons who seem bent on learning the trade. “The boys like who now done school come around and catch a lil knocking”, Smith said.
“We work from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, no vehicle don’t sleep over,” Smith said. He said the job is completed in a day and according to him the prices are reasonable. “ A normal service for a car around town is $4500- $5000; we catch a reasonable piece work yea”, he said, noting that the men work daily except Sundays when they operate until midday .

He said space is a problem at the area since there has been an overwhelming increase in customers in recent years. “This officer from Eve Leary call me since this morning, somebody else call, so work deh“, Smith said as he listed the number of duties each mechanic performs.

Nearby an old yard was being used for the disposal and storage of parts. The man in charge there said that he admires the mechanics at the site. “These men work hard; it is what I call an honest dollar,” he said.
He noted too that the area provides spin-offs to two other professions since mobile spare parts dealers and food-handlers would remain at the site for most of the day. “Food gah eat and the customers now gah bring the parts but we got a man or two who sell parts right here”, said Smith.
Interestingly, it was noted that some of the professionals at the site are the products of the established workshops around the capital city. “He use to work at Ramesh them by Green Ice and couple others come through the ranks,” the owner of the disposal yard noted.
As this publication toured the area, the men gleefully gathered when asked to take their pictures. “We work hard so we glad people can see,” said Smith as his young brigade returned to complete their duties before the 5 pm knock-off time.