Peoples has sold its Accrington dealership to Oldham Motor Company (OMC).

Peoples has three other dealerships in the north-west, all based in the Greater Liverpool area, and its finance director Stewart Ramsay said selling the Accrington business would allow the company greater opportunity to focus on them.

He said: “We acquired the dealership in Accrington in 2013 and since then it has shown profitable growth thanks to the loyal customer base who appreciate the customer care which is always top of our priorities at Peoples.

“I expect this to be a seamless transition to OMC who share our principles of quality and putting the customer first.”

Staff jobs at the dealership will be safeguarded, he added.

Peoples’ dealerships in Liverpool are at Orrell Lane, Bridge Road and Speke Hall Road. It sold 18,354  vehicles in its last financial year. 

The group is the largest independent dealership in Europe retailing only Ford cars and commercial vehicles.

OMC Motor Group is run by the third and fourth generation of the Eglin family; Robin Eglin, chairman, and Jonathan Eglin, managing director.

In a statement they said: “We are very excited about the prospect of OMC Motor Group expanding into Accrington and the surrounding area. 

“We always strive to deliver the very best in customer service across the business – from meeting new and existing customers in the showroom to high standard servicing and repairs.

“We have a strong family business ethos with many of our customers returning to OMC time and time again and we firmly believe that all our customers form part of our wider OMC family.”