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Barry Halstead was a fastidious mechanic who was employed for a few days at MVB Motors in November 1995 after owner Mike Baldwin sacked Jim McDonald. Garage manager Kevin Webster expected Barry to be some 14-year old who thought that a Cortina was a musical instrument and was surprised when the middle-aged and pernickety Barry appeared for work, stating that on his first day he would only be working half a day as agreed with Mike, wanting his own bench and insisted on drinking his tea out of his own particular mug.

That lunch time, Barry joined Mike for a drink in the Rovers where he advised his boss that he had already put Kevin straight on a few matters and then proceeded to advise his taken-aback boss on the best way to drink his Scotch. Barry's catchphrase turned out to be "if you don't mind me mentioning", before proffering his latest morsal of unwanted advice and Kevin was already tearing his hair out by the end of the first day. The second day began badly when Kevin turned up to open the garage at 9.03am when Barry had turned up prompt at 8.30am, and gave his nominal boss a lecture on punctuality. He later on insisted that their lunch and tea breaks both began and finished on time. His attention to time carried on to the end of the working day when he clocked off at 5.30pm, even though an oil change still needed doing on a car which Kevin had promised would be ready to take away. Kevin had no option but to sack the unrelenting Barry, who threatened to report him to Mike.

Baldwin ordered Kevin to find a suitable replacement or take Barry back on. Luckily, Kevin had just met Tony Horrocks at a five-a-side football match and, learning of his experience, took on the far more compatible youth.

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