Fred Henderson Ltd

General information

Fred Henderson Automobile Engineers commenced trading in a disused workshop underneath the railway bridge in Durham city during January 1973. The business soon expanded to employ four people and continued to expand to eight people by 1980 when the business was moved to its present site in Ainsley Street, just a short walk from the city centre. In 1982, with his rally career drawing to a close, Fred Henderson took on a position as Motorsport Manager for Colway remould Tyres and the business took on the responsibility of marketing Colway Motorsport products across the world.

By the early 90s the business was running a fleet of six breakdown trucks and continued to expand rapidly along with the success of National Breakdown, eventually to become Green Flag as it is known today, as well as working for the AA and the RAC. The company also took on one of the first privatised police contracts for vehicle recovery.

By 1993 the fleet of vehicles were extended to sixteen and a 24-hour control centre. In 1998 a purpose-built control room and up-to-date reception facilities were added and the roadside repair service became known as the Breakdown Doctor and a trademark was registered bearing this name. At the same time the company was restructured and became Fred Henderson Limited.

In July 2004 David Henderson joined the business after working in motorsport team management to concentrate on the workshop element of the business and by 2010 we expanded to 25 full and part time employees.

During 2010 and early 2011 will be a very exciting time for us as we have aquired the former S.G.Petch twin franchise site on the A690 just past Nevilles Cross allowing us to retail quality used vehicles as well as taking on a Bosch Car service franchise to support our already strong technical expertise.

We have recently expanded to increase the Car Sales forecourt and compound for indoor and external vehicle storage.