A Hull mechanic has told how he has launched a garage business with a community mission in memory of his dad.
Josh Daniels was left devastated last year when his dad Glenn took his own life at the age of 54, and suddenly found himself having to organise a funeral and deal with paperwork at a time when he all he wanted to do was deal with his personal grief. During the months that followed, Josh discovered that Glenn, who was a foreman at International Bulk Liquids in Hull for 28 years, had left money to him and his sister Holly, 25.
Determined to channel his grief in a positive way, he used the inheritance to open a garage with a difference, which could become part of the community and help others. Daniels’ Autoshop is now open on the Factory Estate, Hull, where alongside MOTs, services and repairs, he hopes to help other men dealing with mental issues by offering a safe space for them in weekly events.
Josh, a mechanic since starting as a young apprentice when he was 13, said: “I think Dad just didn’t realise how many people were there for him. He was dealing with some issues and I think it all must contributed and it all got too much for him. He was too busy helping everybody else, taking everybody else’s weight but not his own.”
“I’ve always been a mechanic so when we got some money through there were options of things to do like putting it towards a house, but I decided on a garage. There are garages everywhere and they all do the same thing, so it’s just a competition on price. The aim for my garage more than anything is to give back to the community as much as we can, mainly for the way it’s opened.
“So, every Tuesday we do a mental health night, where from 5pm to 8pm we invite people to come down to the garage as a safe space for people to chat, vent or just relax. None of us are mental health trained at the moment, but we are looking into that to take it further.
“We also give the highest rate of discount for blue light card holders, 20%, and just want to be a little bit different here, and not just like a typical garage. It’s not about the money, so I would rather the garage went bust or closed than not be a genuine business.
(Image: Joshua Daniels)
“Mysterious Minds, the charity set up to support families that have lost a loved one to suicide, contributed to my dad‘s funeral, so we’re pushing things towards fundraisers for them too.”
It was last May that Josh found out his dad had passed away, after not hearing from him for a while.
He said: “He was living in shared accommodation at the time. We didn’t hear from him and I was curious as to what was happening. We went to the shared accommodation that day and got to the point where we had to call the police. And then we found out that he had taken his own life.
“There were eight, nine months of investigations and the inquest. It was awful for everyone really, and we all just tried to push through with a good plan. As much as I would have loved to have got a house, I wanted to just give something back. That’s why we built this place.
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“I had been very fortunate in my life not to lose anyone, and this was the first person close to me who I’ve lost and the one person I didn’t want to lose, so it was a big change. It’s been rough. I’m not here to be a hero, I don’t want people to pat me on the back and say I’m amazing.
“I’ve dealt with mental health issues myself, especially with the way my dad went. So if you can make someone’s day a little bit better and a bit easier, especially the climate that we were in nowadays, it might change someone’s perspective.”