Mobile tyre fitting
in Stondon.

A fitter at your car
in Stondon.

Around here the trouble usually starts on the A600, the Bedford Road that heads north out of Hitchin through Ickleford. A screw or a sliver of metal collected along it rarely announces itself on the road; the warning light tends to wait until the car is back at home in SG16. The B659 Hitchin Road supplies the rest, carrying village traffic to and from Pirton. Read off the sidewall size, say whether the tyre is completely flat or only low, and the van sets out from Brent Cross carrying a match.

Drives, bays and car parks.

Driveways carry almost every job in Stondon, and a car can be left on one with the key to hand. A quiet cul-de-sac, with the car tucked in tight to the kerb, is the fallback. Business vehicles are dealt with inside a yard at ACO Business Park or the Henlow Industrial Estate, once whoever runs the site has been told to expect the van. What the village lacks is public parking of any size, so there is no car park to suggest; the car's own address is the plan.

Lower Stondon holds most of the houses, with Upper Stondon a short way off, and between them they account for the bulk of the calls. Holwell, Meppershall and Shillington lie within two miles or so, making a job in any of them routine rather than a detour. Postcodes are mixed: most homes use SG16, though some addresses fall under SG5 or SG17, so the full postcode matters more than the village name. There is no station, which means a commuter's car is found on the drive rather than beside a platform. Working vehicles come from ACO Business Park and the Henlow Industrial Estate. The A600 carriageway leaves nowhere safe to crouch at a wheel, and the Mount Pleasant Golf Club car park belongs to the club, so it is never suggested as a meeting spot.