Deal businessman Robbie Adamson is on a mission to get his former apprentice Lorraine Pascale to visit his garage again after his appearance on BBC’s The One Show with her on Wednesday.

The model turned TV chef was on the BBC show reminiscing about her days as a car mechanic apprentice when her old boss Mr Adamson, of Adamsons Motors in Dover Road and West Street, surprised her. He had been contacted by the show the week before.

Before the TV chef knew Mr Adamson was in the studio, she described him as a friendly boss.

In a short interview with presenters Alex Jones and Eddie Mair, Mr Adamson said: “She used to come down once a week on a Wednesday and she got her hands dirty. She got in to the workshops and changing tyres.”

Lorraine, who was a well-known model at the time, started working at the Deal garage in 2001 one day a week for a six-month period. She would commute from London.

Mr Adamson said: “She used to drive an old Porsche and park it on the forecourt. All the lads’ eyes would pop out of their heads.

“She’d come down and put her overalls on and get into it. She had a young daughter at the time so she’d start about half-nine and finish at four-ish.

“She had a passion for cars. She was modelling but she knew at some stage it would come to and end.”

The show played footage of Lorraine in the workshop in a set of green overalls.

Mr Adamson told the Mercury: “She is as you see her on the television, always polite and she never stopped smiling.

“Out of curiosity I have followed her career.

“It wasn’t that long ago I saw she was selling cakes in Selfridges and from then it’s snowballed.

“They whisked her away after the show because she had another appointment, but it was very nice to see her, we reminisced about times.”

On the way home, Mr Adamson received an anonymous text saying: ‘You charmer, if you can get her down to the garage then I’ll buy a Suzuki!’

His garage on Dover Road is now a Suzuki franchise, but still offering Skoda after sales and warranty work. He hopes to have an official opening event for the new franchise before Christmas, which he hopes Lorraine might be able to attend.

He said: “I am going to email her and see if she’ll come down.”