Bristol Street Motors customer makes marriage proposal during new car handover

The handover of a new car took an unexpected turn for a York woman whose boyfriend proposed in the showroom of Bristol Street Motors York Renault Dacia.

James Landragin popped the question to his now fiancé, Zoey Mclaughlin, as they collected their new vehicle from the Clifton Moor site, after arranging the surprise proposal with the dealership.

Vertu said colleagues at the York dealership arranged for the vehicle to be covered in a sheet, caught the proposal on camera and were presented with a bottle of champagne.

Landragin explained why he chose the dealership, he said: “I’ve known that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Zoey for quite a while and we picked the ring out together about four months ago.

“Zoey told me she wanted a surprise proposal, but the weekend before I proposed, we spent a romantic weekend in the countryside, going on lots of scenic walks. She later told me she had been quite nervous on the walks as she thought I was going to propose.

“After that, I knew I had to make the proposal random, out-of-the-blue, and soon, which is why I thought that visiting Bristol Street Motors York Renault Dacia would be a great opportunity. She would never see it coming and be distracted by the car, so I could have plenty of time to spring it on her.

“Colleagues at the dealership were only too happy to help me set it up. They sorted out a sheet to cover the vehicle and moved the handover inside. They told Zoey they were filming her reaction to receiving the new car, so she didn’t get suspicious why people were recording us. I’m just pleased that she said yes after waiting for me to pop the question for four months."

Steve Gould, group operations director at Bristol Street Motors, said: “We’d like to extend the congratulations from everyone at Bristol Street Motors to James and Zoey. We were really pleased that we were able to be part of this very happy memory and to have caught the moment on film for them.”

A Vertu Motors employee has been awarded the Silver Medal of the Polish Army for his voluntary work maintaining a Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire, with the Polish Heritage Flight.

The group added its first Ferrari supercar and Volvo dealerships to its car retail portfolio through the £117 million acquisition of Helston Garages, in December, 2022.

But despite the busy year, chief executive Robert Forrester said: “I think this is the first time that one of our dealerships has hosted an engagement, but hopefully not the last.

“Many congratulations to them both.”