8:28 am, June 18, 2025
Staff at V12 Sports and Classics rarely have their feathers ruffled and offer service that regularly fits the bill.
That approach has recently been tested thanks to some unusual visitors to its showroom in Nottinghamshire – a family of hungry ducks have been regularly dropping by in search of sustenance.
The feathery interlopers have a quacking reason to feel grateful to the team at V12 Sports and Classics in Retford Road, Worksop.
They were left feeling down when their pond near the showroom was filled in recently.
While looking for a replacement nesting spot, they gravitated towards the dealership, where kind-hearted staff members noticed their plight and began to offer them food.
V12 Sports and Classics in Worksop is close to the Chesterfield Canal and the River Ryton, so the birds didn’t have to look too far for a new home.
But it’s thanks to the dealership team – and the fact that they didn’t duck the issue – that the family survived and has thrived ever since.
Dean Pemberton, general manager, said: ‘We were so pleased to be able to help the ducks and we’ve definitely acquired some new friends.
‘There were only four when we started to keep an eye on them, but the family soon grew and there were more than 60 at one point! A lot flew away and others fell victim to various predators unfortunately. We’re now on the third generation and we and our customers love them.’
Pemberton explained that the dealership uses specially-sourced food to keep the ducks satisfied – and that if they haven’t been fed on a particular day, they waddle through the showroom to make their presence felt!
Kailem Tennant and Kelton Wardle (in the waistcoat), from the V12 Worksop sales team, carry out feeding duties
Current co-ordinators of the feeding routine are administrators Tracy and Barbara, with a third member of staff who has a smallholding supplying the nutrition.
‘If we don’t feed the ducks, they do tend to come wandering in,’ he confirmed. ‘There is a funny side to it but we have had to put a little fence up to keep things under control. As I say, the customers love them – they’re definitely a draw.’
Pemberton added that a batch of new arrivals had recently hatched – clearly egg-cellent news!
‘Twelve ducklings just appeared one day,’ he explained. ‘We went out as normal one morning, and there they were, paddling towards us. We do our best to keep them safe and away from foxes but it’s not always easy and they become a bit too confident if anything.
‘They will approach anyone and if we go out to the forecourt to move a couple of cars, they think we’re planning to feed them again. We don’t want the staff to get too distracted because we do have a business to run at the end of the day!’
Farhad Tailor, managing director of V12 Sports and Classics, said: ‘It’s wonderful that the team at our Worksop dealership are looking after the wildlife in their local area. It’s something I fully support and if there’s enough interest in the story, we might make a duckumentary!’
V12 Sports & Classics, based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, started life as a business run from Tailor’s driveway and has grown to become one of the best-known used car and van dealer groups in the country.
Tailor spoke about how he set up the company in a Car Dealer Podcast last year – which you can listen to here.
As well as its Worksop site, the company operates in Hinckley, Wolverhampton and Stoke-on-Trent, and runs a busy preparation centre that turns around at least 70 vehicles a day.
Around 17,000 used cars and vans are sold by the team to customers every year.
