Christmas came early for one Fakenham motorist after winning a brand new car from his local garage.

Graham Goodberry was drawn from over 19,000 entries to win a new Citroen C3 which he collected from BC&R Car & Van Centre in Fakenham.

The garage is part of the AutoCare network and took part in its Big Winter Giveaway - a prize draw open to anyone who has taken their vehicle to an AutoCare garage between October 1 and November 30 for an MOT, service or repair.

Mr Goodberry was among 214 entries from the Fakenham garage which is one of 631 on the Autocare network.

He, and his wife Doreen, have been taking their cars to the garage for years but only just made the cut, as he took his car in for a service on November 30, just hours before the competition closed.

He said: “We have never won anything, you always hear about other people winning, but you never think it will be you.

“My wife and I are so happy to have won and so grateful to the garage for telling us about the competition.”

Hayley Bunkle, from the garage, said they like to get behind the car giveaways.

“As we are located in a very rural part of Norfolk we make sure everyone who visits the garage knows that they have the chance to win a prize,” she said. “We offer to enter on their behalf and hand them a leaflet to take away with them.”

A total of 19,288 motorists entered the competition online after using one of the garages on the nationwide network.

Networks manager Maria McCullough said: “These fantastic promotions run twice a year for all the garages and are a sound way to bring in new business and give existing customers another reason to keep coming back.

“I’m pleased to hear a loyal customer won the car, but raising awareness about the quality of garages amongst new customers is also what we achieve with this promotion.

“It’s phenomenal how this promotion is growing each year - over 19,000 motorists entered the Big Winter Giveaway which generated more than £2.8m for the network of garages.”

AutoCare is also part of EuroGarage which boasts over 6,000 garages in 20 countries.