RETIRED Vauxhall executive Peter Batchelor and immediate past president of the Retail Motor Industry Federation Sue Brownson both received OBEs in the Queen's Birthday Honours list published on Saturday. Batchelor joined Vauxhall's parent company General Motors in 1954 as an apprentice in the AC Delco division and went on to hold a number of senior posts within Vauxhall.

He was honoured for his work with the Home Office Vehicle Crime Prevention Group, of which he became chairman in 1993 and from which he retired last month. Brownson, who was honoured for her work with the RMI, was president for two years until last month and she continues to be chairman of AutoRoute, the graduate clearing house for the motor industry. She is managing director of Blue Bell Garages (Wilmslow) in Crewe and Wilmslow.

Andrew Howard, the AA's head of road safety, and Institute of Advanced Motorists' council member Joe Thomas, who is also on the organisation's executive committee and the board of IAM Fleet Training were each awarded the MBE for services to road safety.