Autoglass has opened a new centre in Reading as the business returns to full service with a series of new safety measures to ensure the protection of customers and employees.

The new Reading centre, located within the Makro car park on Craddock Road in the heart of Reading’s industrial and retail area, replaces a bricks and mortar site located outside of the city centre.

The new location, only one mile from The Oracle Shopping Centre, offers a more convenient service and additional capacity for customers, says Autoglass.

The centre provides windscreen repair and replacements, advanced safety system recalibrations, and replacement wiper blades.

All centres across the UK, including the new centre in Reading, are now open and offer contactless service and maintain social distancing.

In line with UK Government guidelines, Autoglass was previously offering a limited service to key workers providing critical services in the coronavirus pandemic response and those that needed their vehicle for essential travel.

Following the Government update to these guidelines, Autoglass has now resumed a full service to all customers whilst continuing to prioritise NHS workers.

The vehicle glass repair, replacement and recalibration company says it has also enhanced its cleaning procedures in response to the current coronavirus pandemic.

This includes the introduction of ‘Touchpoint Sanitisation’, an additional mandatory series of safety steps which will be carried out during all appointments.

Technicians at Autoglass will decontaminate up to 46 individual touchpoints on a vehicle both before and after completing the work, including disinfecting door handles and steering wheels.

The process uses a disinfectant that has been British lab tested to kill and protect against 99.99% of viruses and bacteria, including coronaviruses and noroviruses, it said.

Taxiarchis Konstantopoulos, managing director at Autoglass, said: “Safety has always been our number one priority and during the current crisis this is more important than ever.

“Whilst we continue to work to keep drivers safe on the roads, we have adapted our ways of working to ensure we are able to provide a contactless service, maintain social distancing and provide additional sanitisation as we strive to protect the health of both our customers and colleagues.

“Our technicians and teams at Autoglass are working hard to ensure vehicles can return to our roads safely, which is especially important at a time where we are being encouraged to avoid public transport.

“Our latest opening in Reading demonstrates our ongoing investment in keeping drivers safe on the roads and we look forward to bringing our industry-leading service to the local community."