AutoRestore has been announced as one of the first ATA Approved Assessment Centres able to deliver the new Cosmetic ATA qualification following a pilot run by the IMI, while one of its Mobile Repair Technicians has become the first in the UK to become accredited.

The company’s head office training centre in Rusden, which achieved Centre Approval from IMI Awards in June 2010, will become an academy capable of delivering both Cosmetic Technician and Senior Cosmetic Technician ATA qualifications in 2012.

“Since we first started down the route of achieving PAS 125 status in 2009, AutoRestore has been committed to supporting the standard wherever possible,” said Melvin Rolling, technical director, “so I was delighted to be invited to participate in the evolution of the Cosmetic ATA through the expert working group and subsequently, to sit on the steering committee and see the qualification come to life.”

James Haydon, an AutoRestore technician from north London, recently undertook the two-day assessment in which he had to perform all aspects of the mobile repair operator under the close scrutiny of two external assessors and he became the UK’s first Cosmetic ATA Technician.

He said: “I had to cover things like blending a three-stage white pearlescent finish, an aluminium repair preparation, setting up a fully compliant mobile Rig and a 30 question multiple choice test. It was really intensive but I was delighted when they told me that I had passed and was the first to achieve ATA in Cosmetic in the UK.”

ATA Assessment Centres must fulfil a set of criteria set out by the qualifications awarding body, IMI Awards to ensure a national consistency of quality assurance in the assessment process.
 

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