AN MP has praised a firm for forging an industry-leading fixings business out of the back of a van. Archie Norman, MP for Tunbridge Wells, spent more than an hour with Andy Gregory, founder of Fixings and Power Tools Direct.

He and sales manager Mark Wild recently set up a new Tool Room at Stag Trade Park, Tunbridge Wells. They wanted to rid the fixings business of its oily image by creating a brightly-lit shop-style atmosphere that appealed to a new generation of construction workers.

Mr Gregory, four times Buckmore Park, Chatham,, Karting champion, and going for his fifth title this summer, founded the business in 1991. He then moved from the back of a van into a unit at Lavender Hill, Tonbridge. After expanding into the Burgess Hill Tool Room, he set up the new outlet in Longfield Road.

It was important to grow a business rather than let it reach a certain size and stick, said Mr Norman, former chief executive of the successful Asda supermarket chain. "I hope that this business will be 10 or 20 times bigger in 10 years' time," he said. The company has created two jobs with its latest move, with turnover exceeding £200,000.

"It's taken longer to get to this point than I anticipated," said Mr Gregory. "I'm looking to have one of these tool rooms in every major county and city in the south east. We want to be the number one supplier in the region."